Un-becoming

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. [Rev 19:7-8] 

We’ve all been to weddings. Everything focuses around the bride. My favorite moment is to watch the groom as he catches the first glimpse of his bride, he’s overcome by her beauty – she’s prepared herself specifically and especially for this day.

 

Now imagine, how does the bride of Christ prepare herself to be radiant for her beloved? Righteous deeds, good works…

As I pondered this passage and how it applies to this season, 

I heard “Un-becoming”.

I sense that this season we are in is a cleansing period, a time of preparation. UN becoming who we’ve become; busy, weary, anxious, overburdened, chameleon – being who others want or expect us to be. Lost, depressed, frustrated, needy. 

And instead, shed the shackles of expectation, sitting in our pj’s long into the day, learning to be still and be quiet - and be ok with it! Sitting long with our Creator and reveling in who He is. 

 

I don’t know about you, but I think so often we become enamored by the calling on renown believer’s lives, wowed by the work they were given to do, that we dismiss what we have been created to do because it seems insignificant. Or maybe we feel insignificant, unworthy, locked in, incapable...

 

When we don’t see the value of the work, then we devalue the worker!

 

Because our intrinsic value and purpose is hard wired into us as vessels of the Living God, if we don’t value the work God made us to do, we devalue who He's made us to be. And then we're tempted to seek our value elsewhere. Relationships, lifestyle, physical beauty, our stuff. Sadly, we even see it in Christian culture today, so much time is spent seeking man-derived versions of our uniqueness and our purpose and our fulfillment, that we overlook the very work God created us to do. And we weary of living lives without purpose...

 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10 (Emphasis is mine.) 

 

Friends, the LORD God prepared good work to be done and then, and then, in Jesus Christ you and I were created specifically to complete this work. Jesus’ response to the Father’s purposeful design was to create us. We are the plan. We will have all, ALL we need to do every good deed that we were created to do! We've been sovereignly placed right where we need to be, to do the work He made us to do. I love that Scripture says we "should walk in them", the good works. It's in our daily walking out of our life. 

Yes, some have been called to "walk" to many places around the world. But most of us, we're called to walk in our neighborhoods. Walk in our communities. And when we're sensitive to Holy Spirit's leading to do the simple, needed things. The loving things. The hard things. The big things. We do the daily eternal work we were created to do.

I think of Mother Teresa. Just outside her convent walls was great suffering. But who was she? What could one person do about a whole region of poverty and sickness? But, loving others is what believers are created to do. So, she washed bed pans, bathed people with leprosy and sat with them till the end so that they would not have to die alone. Cultural assessment would say her work was with-less. The lowest of jobs to be sure. 

But God. But God prepared in advance for the poverty stricken, the sick and leprous of Calcutta, India to be loved. To be cared for. And then in Jesus made Teresa and assigned her to those He placed in her sphere of influence. 

"And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." [Mat 22:27-39] 

In God's economy washing bed pans is of no less value than leading a megachurch. Neither is taking a meal to neighbor who's ill, nor paying someone's electric bill, nor befriending the outcast, nor even shoveling rock.

Because Love is God's currency!

Shoveling rock was an opportunity for me to apply this very lesson. I was dreading it even though it needed to be done, it’s hard work!  But God has graciously given us more than we dared ask or imagine, so even this slavish labor could become an offering of praise. And as my perspective changed I considered that this could be one of the good works I was created to do, to be a helpmeet to my husband. To show him I value him and the work he was called to do. My whole attitude about the work changed. And love won!

 

Scripture is replete with stories of people who just did what God put in front of them to do. And God proved that their insecurities, insignificance, insufficiencies, worth-less-ness were just a lies they had believed...

Oh friends, let us un-become anything that might hinder us from 

being who God created us to be.

 

I believe our Lord’s return draws close and He’s reminding us to use this time to prepare! I believe that this very season is ripe with opportunity. So, I leave you with this to ponder:

What things may need to be UNdone in your life?

What good deeds are in front of you to do? 

Who has God placed in your life for you to love?

What goodness do you want to be clothed in when you meet your beloved Bridegroom, Jesus, face-to-face?

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for creating good work for us to do! Jesus, thank you for designing us perfectly for the specific work we were made to do. Holy Spirit, would You give us eyes to see the work before us, the energy to accomplish it each day. We let go of who we have become so that we may be all that you created us to be and so fulfill the purpose for which you created us.