Image management. As a Christ-follower, what an incredibly freeing thing to care not at all about image management. What freedom to simply live our lives as an expression of God's grace and His goodness in and through us. I know that I have a propensity toward 'image management' rather than authentic/ inside out change. I hate that and I want to live before an audience of one and to all His image to be all that I seek.
I know that I can fake it. I know that faking it is empty and futile. I also know that I will be drawn toward faking this whole Christianity thing again. All that does for me is to make me proud or to leave me lifeless. I want to be full. I want for more of Christ.
I was sitting in the room yesterday and wondering what might happen if an entire church loses any idea of image management and we become an authentic, Christ-loving, 'each-other' loving community of faith. That could be crazy! I think that we should go for it.....
Mark
1 comment:
I just had some questions to follow up with this weeks service.
The human tradition you discussed, getting rid of that, what does that look like? I mean on a day to day basis. I would have to think that the general answer 'it looks different for everyone' would be a correct answer, but not a true, deep answer. One could answer, "read your bible everyday, pray everyday, help others" but I just still question whether there is more to it than that. I just completed the book "The Shack" and one of the main points in the book was the relationship. We are to love God, Love our Neighbors, etc. They also talked about how reading the bible can be as reading a book of do's and don'ts. I know that the book is fictional, and the bible is everything, so I just wondered if there was a balance between the two. There are days where I read the bible, then there are days I don't. Then when you don't, there is the guilt of not reading it. Knowing that the guilt is not from God, it makes me wonder if it really is about the relationship...the constant everyday communication with him, whether by prayer, or just friendly chatting.
Sooo... all in all I would like to know what it would look like in an individuals life to drop the human tradition and pick up the cross. Reading, praying, can if allowed, become tradition also.
Thanks! ARS
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