Careful For Nothing

Bringing Home the Faith: a Pastor writes to her teenage son about Christian belief is a series of ten letters I wrote for my son addressing his doubts about Christian faith and answering his questions about what Christians believe and why.  Each letter is preceded by an Introduction which introduces its particular topic.

Please share these weekly installments of Bringing Home the Faith with someone in your life, whether young or old, who wants uncomplicated and honest answers to their questions and concerns about Christian faith.

Letter No. 6: Why Becoming Like Jesus is What’s Best for Us

Introduction

Confessing Jesus as your Savior involves more than uttering a statement of belief.  It’s about letting yourself be transformed into the likeness of Christ.  In essence you’re handing over your life to Jesus and allowing him to begin in you a thorough renovation of your character.  The apostle Paul calls this being “conformed to the image of Christ.” (Romans 8:29)

However, to some people this may sound like a form of brainwashing or cult indoctrination.  But that’s not what goes on when we make the choice to allow ourselves to be transformed into Christ’s image.  Instead, our authentic, unique personality is able finally to emerge, free from the encumbrances of sin.  As I wrote in a previous letter, Why Jesus Was Born on Earth, we are not truly ourselves when we are held captive by desires that are misplaced or out of control.  Under the power of sin, our character and personality are warped.  We do things we don’t really want to do and we can’t break free of self-preoccupation.

So, when we submit to Jesus’ Lordship we end up gaining our freedom instead of losing it.  We are free to be the joyful, loving, generous, kind and faithful people God created us to be.  But, until we let Jesus be Lord of our lives, our lives will be vandalized by sin.

For many Christians, mistakes must be made in life until this realization makes sense and becomes compelling.  Some of us need to experience the futility of trying to be a good person on our own or to find how empty a self-indulgent life can be before we are ready to hear Jesus’ call as a release from such futility and emptiness.

This is a difficult topic to explain to a teen-ager, who hasn’t had all that much life experience.  I concluded the best way to frame the subject of this letter is to describe what my life was like before I let Jesus become my Lord and the ways in which I am so much happier now that I have.

Dear Caleb,

I’ve looked forward to writing this letter, and the next one, even more than the others.  The topic, “becoming like Jesus,” is something I’ve pursued with all my heart and mind for the past nine years.  I’m eager to share with you what I’ve learned and how awesome Jesus is.

I had confessed Jesus as my Savior when I was twenty-four but it wasn’t until twenty-two years later that I seriously began the journey of becoming like him.  I started on it when I realized I had Continue reading →