Meditations—points to ponder

If church is not about restoring the whole man it may not be in line with 

what God is doing because that it clearly what God is up to.

Q: What does Jesus say of the Pharisees?

… these people’s hearts have become calloused and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn to Me and I would heal them. 

There is an offer in that statement and Jesus is upset that it is largely ignored. 

The Pharisees had completely missed the point of what God is up to—

what He is after in a person’s life … to heal him as a human being.

The tragedy of the plethora of self-help books and programs is that they all miss 

the transformation of our character. Yes! God does help people through such things because He wants life for us … 

but when we focus on fixing problems we miss the other—

transformation of our character. 

If our Christian life is not resulting in the glorious living that Paul talks about … 

then something important is missing.

John Eldredge Free to Live: the utter relief of holiness pp15-17

Ephesians 1:4 (The Message) — 4 Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, 

he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, 

to be made whole and holy by his love.

Ephesians 1:4 (NRSV) — 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.

God is restoring the creation He made.

Meditations—points to ponder

In clarifying what God’s intentions are for mankind we discover that it is the healing of the whole man … this is the purpose of God in restoring the creation He made. 

That is what Christianity is supposed to do to a person—restore him as a human being. 

From the very beginning, God decided to shape our lives along a certain line. 

The intended shape of our existence is made clear in the Person of Jesus. 

It is a massive undertaking and you will notice that it requires restoration … 

the Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored. 

Thus the healing of the whole man is the purpose of Christianity.

John Eldredge Free to Live: the utter relief of holiness pp10-13

Romans 8:29–30 (NLT) — 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Today we begin meditating on a book by John Eldredge

Free to Live: the utter relief of holiness

John Eldredge © 2013

 John prays ...

O Lord! Lead me in the way to be good again.

Let me be a person who manifests what Christianity does to a person

and who invites others into the journey with You.

Only You can restore my humanity to that which You designed me to be and do.

Meditations—points to ponder

Whether you are aware of it or not, you crave goodness. In the depths of our being we ache for goodness—our souls long for a sense of wholeness and goodness. 

We are made for goodness like we are made to breathe and made to love.

 Goodness is the strength of our condition. 

God restores human beings because being whole and holy is our destiny.

Q: What comes to mind when you read/hear the word holiness?

Holiness is not exactly a hot topic of conversation these days—in great part because we have come to associate all sorts of crushing and unattainable rules and rituals with it. 

Yet in order to make human beings what they are meant to be, the love of God seeks to make us whole and holy. In fact, the assumption of the New Testament is that you cannot become whole without becoming holy—

nor can you become holy without becoming whole—the two go hand in hand.

John Eldredge Free to Live: the utter relief of holiness p5-9

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 (NLT) — 23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for He Who calls you is faithful.

Meditations—points to ponder

God has come for me—He continues to come for me. 

He has healed me—He continues to heal me. 

He has saved me—He is saving me still, 

crafting His Beauty and Presence more deeply into my soul. 

“I Am” has taken up residence, and His Very Presence is changing me. 

He Who is utterly Himself is enabling me to become myself, 

the ‘self’ He had in mind when He made me. 

He is Who He is, Who He has always been, and Who He will always be. 

God is I Am. He is not becoming—He already is. 

And now, because of Him, I too am becoming myself.

Stasi Eldredge—Becoming Myself: embracing God’s dream of you pp6-7

Romans 8:9 (NRSV) — 9a But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, 

since the Spirit of God dwells in you. …

Romans 8:9 (The Message) — 9a ... God himself has taken up residence in your life, …

  

Meditations—points to ponder

God is unveiling who we truly are. Unveiled faces. 

All those veils of shame, sin and the false self, all those veils others have put upon us, 

thinking they know who we ought to be—God takes them all away 

so that with unveiled faces we might reflect His Glory. 

The process often feels slow, interminable even. But lasting change takes time. 

God is a God of process, and He has His Eye on Eternity. 

His plans for us aren’t for a quick fix but an eternal transformation—

slowly / carefully / intentionally—the unveiling is taking place.

Q: is there a way to speed up the process of unveiling and hasten the change we long for?

… Yes. There is. Accelerating our “becoming” involves saying yes to God 

again and again and again. 

It is not a posture of striving but of releasing - 

yielding then pushing through to the next goal. 

We collapse into God’s Life within us. 

“Christ in me, help me” becomes our prayer. 

That is why He often brings us to the end of our rope, the end of ourselves. 

Because it is from there we turn from our striving and raise our arms in surrender 

to our God again to save us. By faith, we turn to Him … 

God is at work in us and for us. We believe this because He says He is.

Stasi Eldredge—Becoming Myself: embracing God’s dream of you p6

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NRSV) — 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (The Message) — 24 The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!

Meditations—points to ponder

John 10:10 (NRSV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

It is a beautiful paradox that the more God’s we become, the more ourselves we become—

the “self” God had in mind when He thought of you before the creation of the world. 

She’s in there; she might be badly bruised and covered with all sorts of muck, 

but she’s in there. Jesus comes to call her out. 

The path is a dance between choosing and yielding, 

desiring and relinquishing, 

trying and giving up.

(i) The voice of Shame says, I basically hate ‘me’; I need to get rid of me.

(ii) The voice of Discipline says, I’ve got to fix me, because ‘me’ is not good.

(iii) God says, I love you; let Me restore you.

Stasi Eldredge—Becoming Myself: embracing God’s dream of you p5

John 10:10 (The Message) A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Note: the image below uses the words ... and live it more abundantly! I like that! 🙂

Meditations—points to ponder

Our transformation begins when we believe we are loved. 

Although we might be too much for ourselves, we are not too much for Him. 

God spoke to Stasi:

What if change is actually just Me unveiling who you really are?

God does not toss us aside. He restores us—the real us. 

As He heals our inner life, He calls us to rise to the occasion of our lives. 

Once we surrender ourselves, He gives us back our true selves. 

It is a journey that will require courage, faith, and 

above all a willingness to grow and to let go. 

The journey of becoming is one of increased self-awareness 

coupled with a surrender of self. 

God is all about this process of becoming.

Stasi Eldredge—Becoming Myself: embracing God’s dream of you p5

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (ESV)  He Who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.