Just Be Yourself

We live in a culture where we are taught that "it's all about who you know". With so many people receiving the same education level and boasting the same skills, our success is being driven more and more by what our superiors and those in power think about us. This truth has created a strong temptation for us to try and form ourselves to the appearance desirable to those above us. I know it has definitely happened to me. I try so hard to impress people with power and influence, not to show Christ to them, but so I can get some sort of recommendation or more responsibility. Even worse, I see this culture and lifestyle flooding the spiritual lives of myself and so many others around me. Instead of being real with God, we just try to "act the right way" and "say the right things", and if we ever mess up (which we do. ALOT) we could never mention it in our prayers because God would think less of us, right? Wrong. 

"For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b

God knows our hearts. He knows our mistakes and our true feelings. When we pray without being genuine with God, it doesn't keep God from knowing our hearts, it only hinders us from being the person God has created us to be. With this said, God has helped me to see three things that we must be genuine with God about when we pray:

• First, we must be honest with God about our attitude. 
• Now, don't take this as meaning that you should always outwardly display your current attitude in your ministry and daily life. However, if you are angry or upset with someone, talk to God about it first, and then let Him lead you in how to reconcile with that person. If you are exhausted in your ministry, talk to God about it, and allow Him to bring you a new sense of joy in what you are doing and also to lead you into the ministry of your God-given passion. There have been several times where I have been involved in a ministry that I have grown tired with and that I have never been extremely passionate about it, and instead of asking God to help me to stay committed, I decided it must be God's plan for me and I run away from it. Instead, it is better to honor the people you have involved yourself with in that ministry and finish what you started. When the time is right to leave, God will guide you in that, as well.
• If the way that I tend to pray is any indication, I sometimes act as if I've never had a bad attitude towards a ministry or a person. Let me tell you, God did not send Christ to die for us and take all the world's sins upon himself so He could hear a bunch of people "say the right things" in their prayers. He sent Christ so He could be in a real relationship with us, and that includes hearing about our struggles and shortcomings. We have nothing to gain from "sucking up" to God. He loves as much as anyone else, and no amount of "right words" will make Him think anything more or less of us, especially if we don't mean it. God knows our attitudes and our thoughts, whether or not we tell Him about them. The only thing that is lost is the chance for us to work together with God's power to change our hearts for the better.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
 2 Timothy 2:15

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 
John 13:35

• Secondly, God truly desires for us to be honest with Him about our behavior.
• I know that I don't always treat people the way I should, but for some reason, the hardest person for me to admit that to is God. This goes hand in hand with being genuine about our attitude, because our behavior is a reflection of our attitude and of our heart. Be honest with God about where you fall short. 2 Timothy 2:15 (above) doesn't just mean to present yourself to God in what you say in your prayers, but to do it through your actions, and allow God to see that the state of your heart is producing fruit through your actions to those around you.

"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 
1 Peter 3:3-4
        

• The third thing that we must be authentic with God about is our motives. 
• We can do our best to display a godly attitude to those around us and treat others nicely, but without the right motives, we are doing it out of our selfish desire and not for the glory of God. I struggled with this a lot working at camp over the past few summers. When I spend time with a kid and do my best to allow them to have fun, do I do it so they and the people around can know God better and see Christ through me, or so that they know me and think I'm a good staffer? When we pray, we have to be honest with God about why we are doing ministry and acts of service for others, even if we don't like the answer.
• Once we identify where our motives are messed up, we can work with God to heal our corrupt hearts and allow Him to transform our hearts into something beautiful and pleasing. Being dishonest with God and just focusing on the deeds and not the motives in our prayers, we completely miss the blessing of being formed into a more Christ-like image.

 Once we are genuine with God in our prayers we will find two things: A more humbled outlook on our service to God, and a closer and more intimate relationship with Christ. However, there is a time to pray and ask for these things, but there is also a time to act and put what God is teaching us into practice. Don't let your failures and shortcomings stop you from practically working on being a better portrait of Christ. Gary Thomas wrote in his book Sacred Marriage, "...you serve no one- least of all God- by becoming fixated on something you can't now undo. That's what forgiveness and grace are for- a fresh start, a new beginning."