Kings of the Wild Frontier

It's been just over two years since I posted Kings of the Wild Frontier. At the time I only knew a handful of you, and I'm thankful for how those friendships have developed, and how new ones have formed! Well, in that post I spoke of how today's tamed Christianity, based upon rules, principles and methods for Christian living, had caused damage to my marriage at one point in the past. Since I couldn't keep up with the onslaught of rules, principles and methods - especially, but not limited to, the 'marriage principles' - I had underlying thoughts that I didn't really love my wife. At the time, two years ago, it was really good for me to write all of that stuff down. It helped me to realize more and more that I wasn't created to be tamed and controlled, but that I was meant to get out and live!

The Kings of the Wild Frontier theme has stuck with me, and really has become more and more established in all areas of my life. Kings of the Wild Frontier is the title track to an album from 1980 by Adam and the Ants. I was living in England at the time, when "Ant Music" burst on the scene and became wildly popular, instantly. I absolutely loved the music (and still do). At the time, I sang along to all the lyrics, but I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what they were actually saying. However, a few years back I was listening to this song and one line in particular jumped out at me like never before:

"I feel beneath the white there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming."

The imagery here, as I see it, is of a white man who feels the passion and "wildness" of an Indian warrior on the inside, and yet it's all been bottled up and contained within - not able to be released - due to the taming of modern day white man's culture.

My heart cried out to God that day. I'd heard those lyrics a thousand times before but they never really registered with me until then. How much of my life has been bottled up and not truly lived, all because I've been living in a system that is trying to tame me, rather than release me to be who I truly am. Again, many of the teachers and preachers of principles and methods may have really good intentions (and many of them don't), but either way the people are left not knowing who they really are, and they live with various sorts of struggles on the inside that they can't quite put a finger on, all because they think they're doing the 'right' thing by trying to apply all the principles that are taught every week.

Living as the wild (not tamed) creation that you are does not, of course, include doing things that hurt yourself or others, or that are not "expedient" or "helpful" (see 1 Cor 6:12, 10:23-24). But the church - even when it's had good intentions - has gone so far with rules, principles and methods for Christian living that it has essentially snuffed out the true nature of the lives we're meant to live. In many cases they don't even realize what they're doing. Their tamed lives perhaps have a great outward appearance - "an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body" - but yet "are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh" (see Col 2:20-23).

What ends up happening is a lot of faking. A lot of acting. A lot of trying to keep up with others who seem to have it together, while those who seem to have it together know that they don't really have it together, but can't let anyone know! And there is a lot of living inside a box. A box of must's and should's, rather than trust and get to's. A box of performance, trying to get it right, trying to be good Christian boys and girls, but never seeming able to arrive, and therefore never being able to get out of the box. Often not even knowing there's a whole world outside of the box! I was in that box for quite some time. Even as I began to grow in grace, I kept myself in that box in many ways.

How about you? Have you suffered in some way from the taming of the modern church? This is not meant as a means of bashing the church, of course! But reality is reality. People have been hurt, and it's up to us, by the Holy Spirit, to spread the freedom for which Christ has set us free!

Unripe and plastic fruit - Part 2 of 2

Another blog post that brought about my desire to post on this subject is Until Love Pleases... from Matthew's blog. Matthew brings out a verse from Song of Solomon that says not to "stir up or awaken love until it pleases." We're in such a hurry these days. Such a hurry to do, such a hurry to perform, such a hurry to produce, such a hurry to grow. Which leads to another huge problem that can easily come as a result of performance-based Christian teaching - fake lifestyles and fake love that only appears holy --- also known as self-righteousness. I realize that self-righteousness is often perceived to mean a "holier than thou" attitude, but actually I think far more often it's expressed in the form of a performance-based lifestyle - me trying my best perform for God or for people.

Last week I shared with my pastor (again, agreeing on some things and disagreeing on other things - which is perfectly fine) my thoughts that there are many people who hear all the principles taught in churches every week, and, sincerely wanting to be 'good Christians,' they put up the appearance of having it all together - but in reality they're just faking it. They're faking holiness. It's not only fruit that's unripe. It's fake, plastic fruit. It may have every appearance of being real, but it's not real. I think that due to all the "doing" teaching in the church today there is a lot of pressure to look as if you're living it, and living it well. Sometimes it's pressure we put on ourselves and other times it's peer pressure, but either way, performance-based Christianity does not help at all!

The fruit that I'm talking about includes, but is not limited to, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). We're taught that all of these things - along with all the good works - are the marks of a good Christian, so we go around trying to display them, or treating them like "projects" that we need to work on and become better at. And so in our meetings we talk the talk and we act as if we're walking the walk, and we can make it look reeeeal good, but all it really is is an external appearance on the outside that hasn't truly come from who we are inside. And that's because we're not living from the Life that we already have on the inside, but rather we're constantly trying to follow all these principles and rules through external means ("the flesh"), trying to make ourselves to be something, when in fact we already are holy, righteous and complete in Him!

My purpose here is not to get down on anyone, but simply to point out the difference between unripe and plastic fruit that is the result of forced, contrived, fleshly growth, and real fruit that comes naturally and in due season as the Lord Himself works in us through His very life. The fruit of the Spirit is... the fruit of the Spirit. It's not up to us, but it's His fruit that He patiently works out of us as we simply abide (rest, remain) in Him and grow in His supernatural timing. His fruit in us is never unripe, never fake, never bad tasting, never plastic.

And so... what are some solutions to all this? I think the comments that came in after I posted Part 1 are excellent! Mainly... let's preach the pure gospel of grace. Let's preach Jesus. Let's not add anything to the gospel (such as our own works) or take anything away from it (such as the finished work of Jesus). And let's relax and lighten up! It's my opinion (and you can judge for yourself the validity of my opinion) that the various principles and exhortations to good works in the New Testament weren't written as a means of studying every week and then going out and trying to apply them to become better Christians. Rather, they are things that, as we grow in our understanding of who God is and who we truly are in Christ (the true foundation of our entire life of grace), show us what it looks like when it's "worked out" over the course of our lifetimes.

You simply can't force any of it. It must come naturally, and I believe it comes naturally as we grow in the gospel of grace, not as we try to "apply" principles. I believe it comes from the constant sharing with each other of the freedom and peace that we have in Christ, and God's unconditional love. I think most people know all the "do's and don'ts" of the Christian life, but how many people really know who they are in Christ? How many people really know the love of God? How many people are truly rooted and established in God's love and grace?

And so my plea to the Christian church is to preach Christ and Him crucified, dead and raised again! There is more power than you could ever imagine in this alone!

My review of Recover Your Good Heart

I was introduced to the writings of Jim Robbins a few months ago through a blog post from Aida, who, since then, has posted a few blogs about his book Recover Your Good Heart. I believe she heard about the book through Amy. Long story short, I ended up having an email conversation with Jim and I received a copy of the book from him. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and gaining some insight into "the heart" - the new heart of flesh that God put in us after having taken away our old heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26).

Below is my review of the book that appears on Jim's website, robbinswritings.com.

In the midst of a church culture that tends to put a huge emphasis on outward behavior change and religious activity, Jim Robbins’ book Recover Your Good Heart is a refreshing and much needed look into the true life that we have in Christ that is lived freely and abundantly from within - through the new heart that God gave us when we were raised to life with Christ.

How many Christians are still living with the mentality of something that was true at one time – that our hearts were deceitful and desperately wicked – when the scriptures tell us that in Christ God has taken away the old, unredeemed, sinful heart and placed in us a brand new heart that is holy, righteous and good!

It’s in our new God-given heart that we find real life and our true identity. Robbins examines the scriptures to show us what this new heart is and how we live from our good heart rather than trying harder to become something better. I highly recommend this book for anyone who tends to live in guilt and shame, or for anyone who simply wants to grow in understanding their true identity in Christ so they can freely live the life they were always meant to live.

Satan, Bite the Dust

All right, all right... I know this video is somewhat cheesy and not necessarily scripturally solid in all points (at least in my opinion)... but it's nevertheless inspiring to me in a few ways, if for no other reason than the overall picture is the defeat of the devil, our identity in Christ and the victory in Him that we can confidently live by.

Not to mention, this is truly a Christian "classic." :)

Carman - Satan, Bite the Dust

The Logical Song (please tell me who I am)

I posted this song about a year and a half ago but I just noticed that the video is no longer there so here's an updated version.

Roger Hodgson - The Logical Song


My never ending drumbeat: The church can tell people what to do and how to act, but what good is it if they don't know who they really are?

Who we are in Christ

We know that apart from Christ we were nothing. Unfortunately it seems to me as if sometimes we Christians stay stuck right there. "We are nothing."

But ohhhhhhhh, my friends, in Christ we are a lot of wonderful things! Who God has made us to be is far more amazing than what we give Him credit for. God doesn't just mercifully "see" us a certain way just because we believe in Christ, but He has in reality made us to be a brand new creation, ALIVE with Him, joined to Him, complete in Him, fully accepted in Christ!

And just to get this straight, I'm not talking about that person sitting down there in the front row with his five-inch-thick King James Bible, who doesn't watch TV or go to movies and doesn't curse or smoke or drink or have an evil thought pop into his mind. I'm not talking about the person who is in church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, and whenever else the doors are open. I'm not talking about the person who never messes up and who never hurts anyone and who never says the wrong things. I'm not talking about the person who is completely consistent in everything he says and does. I'm not talking about the person who is happy all the time and never gets sad or depressed or irritated. I'm not talking about that Christian couple who say they never argue or fight. I'm not talking about the person whose "well worn Bible is a sign that they are not." I'm not talking about the person who takes part in all the activities at church. I'm not talking about the person who wears the Jesus pin and who has 3 Christian bumper stickers on his vehicle and listens only to Christian music. I'm not talking about the person who is able to connect with people easily and who knows all their neighbors. I'm not talking about the "10% who are doing 90% of the work." I'm not talking about the person who has no addictions or complexions or personality issues.

I think this might start to give a picture of who I'm not talking about!

Who I'm talking about is... YOU!

Who are you? I gleaned all of the following truths about you directly from Bible passages.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special people. You once were not a people but are now the people of God. Jesus has made you kings and priests to His God and Father. You are loved by the Father. The love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to you. You belong to God and He belongs to you. You are the beloved of God. You are your Beloved's and He is yours, and His desire is toward you. You are a saint.

You have been saved by Christ's life. You have been made alive together with Him. Christ is your life. You reign in life through Him. You have been sanctified in Him. You are the temple of God in which the Spirit of God indwells. Christ is in you. You are a holy temple of God. You are Christ's house. Inwardly, you are being renewed day by day.

Your sins have not only been forgiven; they have been taken away. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. You are holy and blameless before Him. You have been perfected forever. You have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ. In Christ you approach God with freedom, boldness and confidence. You were bought with a price. You are a citizen of heaven, and you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.

You are a new creation. He has given you a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. You are shielded by God's power.

You are a child of God... an actual child of God... through faith in Christ Jesus. As a legitimate child, you are qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. You have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

The Holy Spirit has been poured out abundantly on you through Jesus Christ. Having been justified by God's grace, you have become an heir according to the hope of eternal life. You have become an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ. You have become a partaker of Christ. You have become a partaker of the divine nature. You have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. You have been united with God, joined to Him in an inseparable union.

Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. You are accepted in the Beloved. You are complete in Him. You are no longer condemned and nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. You are a branch of the living Vine, and His life flows through you. God rejoices over you with gladness. He quiets you with His love. He rejoices over you with singing.

All of these things are true of YOU because God says they are true of you! You may "feel" that it's true or you may not feel that it's true. You may understand all of it or some of it or very little of it, but it's still all true.

The point here is that you are not low. You are not a worm. You are not "nothing." You are all the things that are mentioned in the previous paragraphs, and you are much more that I haven't mentioned. I'm only skimming the surface!

Again, we know we were nothing apart from Christ. But now we are in Him and He is in us and we are His! We belong to Him. We're no longer nothing. Our lives in Him are not a matter of us trying to become something! We are complete in Him. We don't come groveling towards Him. We come boldly and confidently to Him, not afraid but with great awe and reverence. We don't sit around as a bunch of mere sinners, hoping He'll grant us favor with Him. We roll around and jump up and down in His favor and grace that has been lavishly poured out on us and given to us in abundance. We celebrate who we are in Him. We can fully enjoy the true identity that is truly who we are. WE DON'T DOWNPLAY IT!!!

I'm excited, I know! For a few years now I've been working my way of the box that I had previously been locked up in, in which the church had tried to tame me and to make me into someone who strives to be a "good Christian boy." :) I don't believe that that's what God had in mind for me when He saved me. He made me to be so much more than that! He has made me whole, and I want to live in that wholeness. He is a God who is "wild, dangerous, unfettered and free" (Walter Brueggeman) and I want to enjoy Him as He is and I want to live as who I am in Him!

Humbly think highly of yourself

The title of this post may seem oxymoronic, but I think you'll see what I'm getting at. In speaking of the individual functions we all have within the body of Christ, Paul gives us a great reminder in Romans 12, saying that each of us should not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly. After all, we are who we are solely through the grace given to us, not because we're anything great in and of ourselves. I like the phrase, "more highly than we ought to think," because it's not as if we're not to think highly of ourselves. Just not more highly than we ought to. There's no reason for us to mope around and think that we're pond scum and that God is simply having pity on us and using us so we feel a little better about ourselves. It is indeed all of grace - that we couldn't possibly have earned (otherwise it wouldn't be "grace") - but it's grace that He lavishes on us because He loves and adores us individually and He loves and adores the entire body of Christ!

In that sense, we are to think highly of ourselves because God thinks highly of us! We humbly think highly of ourselves because God has lavished His love and grace upon us and He has made us to be something that is VERY valuable and precious. In fact, before Christ ever came to live in us, God thought of us as valuable and precious. That's why He sent Christ! He so loved the world.

The reason I bring this up is because I know it's hard for us to see ourselves as we truly are - loved and accepted fully by God - and because of that it's hard for us to "be" who we truly are. While our perception is not always truly reality, our perception of ourselves becomes what we think is reality. If our particular part in the body of Christ doesn't stand out as much as some other part of the body, we may think lowly of ourselves, and inferior to others. Or if our focus is on the bad things we do, we may see ourselves as nothing more than "sinners saved by grace." We wrongfully identify ourselves as sinners. We wrongfully identify ourselves by what we sometimes DO. But our identity is not what we do. Our identity - who we are - is a matter of who God has now made us to be by His grace.

In truth we're saints with a brand new identity! We've been made into new creations.

We are royalty! We are a royal family. We are literally God's family. We have taken on the actual identity as children of God! We're children of the Most High God. We are special. We are peculiar. We are chosen. We are His children. We can think highly of ourselves in that way, because it's the truth about us! I say "highly," not "haughtily." There's no ego involved in thinking of ourselves as we truthfully are!

I had originally planned on simply writing about our status as royalty, but my thoughts have quickly broadened into thinking about our overall identity in Christ. I'm in the process of preparing another post that talks about the truth of who we are in Christ, but I don't want it to only be a matter of simply making a list of who we are in Christ. I will indeed list several things that are true about our identity in Christ, but my hope in listing them out will be to help us understand that we're not "low" creatures, but that God thinks highly of us and He values us and has assigned much worth to us and He accepts us fully and has made us into something "big." We have become a part of His eternal kingdom, and that is nothing to sneeze at or think lowly about!

That I may know Him...

A friend and I are teaching a class at our church entitled "Who Are You - Identity Revealed."

Someone asked me the other day if this class is similar to the "Purpose Driven Life." I really hadn't thought of it that way. The reason for that is... it has nothing to do with being driven in this life by purpose. :)

As you can probably tell by the title, our class is about God's grace, and our identity in Christ, which are inseparable. Knowing our identity is crucial to what we "do" in this life. I know... I know... it's true. So many of us looooong for purpose. We think we'll be fulfilled if we can find our purpose in this life, and then live out our purpose. And it's true that God has given each of us "purpose." Each 'member' of the body of Christ has a purpose within the body (see Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12).

But what if you're going along your day one day, and you don't really feel like you're living out the purpose that you feel that God's given you within the Body? What if this lasts for more than a day? A week? A year? Or more???? Have you ceased to be a member of the Body of Christ? Of course not! Has God forgotten about you? NOOOO!!

Is it possible that you can live your life in Christ without regards to PURPOSE?

I believe so.

And that's because I believe the purpose of our lives are not to have purpose... but to know God.

Again... we all have purpose within the Body. But I don't believe that our day to day lives are meant to be driven by purpose.

Can't we just...

KNOW Him?

In your relationships with people... Do you feel you have to have purpose at every moment? Can't you just be friends, and know each other, and love each other - with no particular agenda?

True... in your relationships you like to DO things with people. Many times there is a particular purpose for you to spend time together. But one of the great things about true, close friends, is that they often don't need to find a purpose in everything they do. Maybe you've just gotten old. I don't mean your age, but your way of thinking. In order to be "mature," you've got to have a reason (a purpose) for everything you do. But think back to your childhood friendships. You didn't always get together because you had some wonderful purpose in mind for your time together.

Ok, I think I've made my point. :)

I think I have a special "part" within the Body of Christ. I think we all do (see previously mentioned scriptures). He lives and moves in us, and we have our entire being in Him... and sometimes that means an obvious expression and movement of the 'body part' that we are. As He works in us, our "purpose" is fulfilled.

But yet the essence of our lives is not purpose. The essence of our lives is that we know Him. The apostle Paul had counted all things as LOSS, including his Jewish heritage and status, his godly zeal, his righteousness, and I think even his own perceived purpose in this life... "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings..." (Phil 3:10).

When defining Eternal Life, Jesus didn't speak of us finding our "purpose in life." He said, while praying to the Father, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

We all have desires... we long for purpose in this life. I don't think there's anything wrong with seeking God to fulfill His purposes in us. But there is something so much greater... something that in our day to day life supersedes, and is so much more important that purpose. It's "that I may know Him."

Again, the question...

Can't we just KNOW Him???

Kings of the Wild Frontier

(I've been wanting to share this for a long time. I do not apologize for the length of this post. :) God's creation is vast, to an extent that is unimaginable. We are part of that creation, and our lives are meant for so much more than a daily struggle to "live right." --- As of today (2/1/07), I have the song mentioned here as my song on myspace. That is subject to change, but I do also have a video for the song there, and that will be there for a while).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel beneath the white
There is a redskin
Suffering
From centuries of taming

I first heard the song “Kings of the Wild Frontier” by Adam and the Ants about 25 to 30 years ago! I was probably about 10 years old. I’ve been a huge Ant fan ever since. (I don’t believe I admitted that!). Well, I was a boy living in England at the time, and the Ants were popular!

There’s never really been anything about “Antmusic” lyrics that turned me on. In fact, I really don’t understand the lyrics most of the time! And when I do understand the lyrics, it’s often a little too… sensual… for my tastes. But I really dig the sound! There’s something about the way the music and vocals are arranged that really gets into my soul like no other music does. And that’s why I listen to it.

But a year or two ago I was listening to ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier,’ and there was something in the lyrics that suddenly did made sense to me, and it really HIT ME right where I was. It was an amazing time. Lots of pent up frustration was released as God spoke to my heart about my true identity through this song, and He set me free.

In the song, it’s as if Adam is saying that beneath his modern day white man’s skin, there’s an Indian Warrior hidden deep inside, dying to get out, but yet he suffers because he’s been tamed by many years of white man’s culture (some of the early Pirate/Indian/Warrior imagery and music style of the Ants came under the direction of their manager). For years, I'd really had no clue what the song was saying. :) But on this day, it all became crystal clear to me as God was revealing the identity inside of ME that has been suffering because of the culture in which I live.

The culture that I’m speaking of is today’s Church culture.

Let me back up, and get a bit personal, just for a moment. About 2 1/2 years ago, my wife and I had some marital problems. I had been having some doubts about my love for my wife. I won’t get into all the details, but I’ll say that we ended up seeing a counselor. He was great. He listened, and asked questions, and listened some more, and asked more questions. This is truly, truly a very, very condensed version of the story, but the main thing is what the counselor revealed to me about myself.

My problem was not that I didn’t love my wife. I really did (and still do, very much) love my wife. But in trying to be all that I could be as a “good Christian husband,” I wasn’t being the man that God had really wired me to be – who He had truly made me to be as a New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17). If you listen to (or watch) much of today’s Christian media, or go into many of today’s evangelical churches, so much of it is focused on self-improvement, being a better person (being a better spouse, parent, child, coworker, etc), striving to “do” all the do’s and “don’t” all the don’ts.

Many people think that if we can just get our behavior in line, then life will be better. Maybe you don’t disagree with that statement! But I found that the more I tried to get my behavior in line (for example – to be a better husband), the more I felt like a failure because I just couldn’t live up to it! Believe me, I tried for years and it was a roller coaster ride of success and failure, but mostly the ongoing nagging feeling that I just couldn’t do it. I don’t need to go into great detail here. Either you relate to this or you have the Christian life down pat. :) But here’s a personal example: I would be in bed, or driving somewhere, or listening to a sermon or Christian talk radio, thinking and praying about something that I really wanted to change in my life. And I would get all excited as I thought about how I would go about making this change. But then came real life… and the failure to change… and then guilt, despondency, and the feeling that I would never change. It was a vicious circle… a roller coaster ride as I said.

And the thing is… for 12 years now, I’ve been growing in my understanding of living by God’s grace – not my own efforts to change, but His work in me, which is sufficient. “We are His workmanship” (Eph 2:10). “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thes. 5:23). “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

New Covenant life is about counting our self-efforts at pleasing God as dung (rubbish) (see Phil 3:3-11). I know this. I can tell others about it. And for the most part, I live it. Rather than trying to establish MY life (in the flesh) as one that is pleasing to God, I have let go and I live my daily life by faith, trusting in Him to do anything and everything in me and through me by His own doing. If you just let go, and put your trust in Him and not your own efforts, you will see that He is completely faithful to work the works in you and make the changes in you that He wants to.

Think about it… if we are God’s workmanship, and yet we try to make our lives out to be our own workmanship, even if we think we’re doing it “for” God… we are really making ourselves out to be GOD.

And so my problem is… sometimes I try to be God. In my marriage, I was trying to be God. I sincerely wanted to be a "better husband," but instead of letting Him work His wonderful works in me, in His way and in His timing, I was trying to do it. In a sense, I was really just going through the motions of being a good husband. It may have even had a great outward appearance from time to time! But on the inside, I knew I was FAKING it. My “good” efforts to be a better husband were really a work of the flesh. They weren’t coming from my union with God. I had sincere desires, but the efforts were not of God.

And so… I began to think that I didn’t love my wife. All my best efforts, as I said, were just me “faking” it. What I came to find out is that I was faking holiness. I just didn’t realize it at the time. But anytime you try to be holy or righteous by your own efforts, you are FAKING the real thing. The “real thing” is God’s workmanship, His life in union with ours. Our flesh can't compete with that! And our spirit knows it, but our flesh still wants to try. So, what I was confused about was this: how could I have such sincere desires to please my wife, and yet all my efforts were making me fall flat on my face? This confusion led me to think that I didn’t love her.

But this low point in our marriage led to a great discovery that would forever change us! We saw the counselor together one time, and then we saw him individually. In my time with him, as I said, he asked a lot of questions and really listened to me. And then he told me what he thought. He said quite a bit, and it was all great stuff, but only one word stuck out to me. Here is what he said: “Blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah IDENTITY blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. :) (The "blah blah's" aren't meant to discount or demean the other great things that were said; only to emphasize the importance of the one word).

The whole problem was that rather than living out of my true Identity in Christ… the New Creation that I truly am… I was trying to be all the things that I thought I was supposed to be for my wife. Again, you may not have much to disagree with about that method of living! Why shouldn’t I try to be the best spouse I can be? The reason is that I (my flesh) can't! The key to everything here is that if you let go, and if you find out who you really are – your true identity in Christ – you won’t have to fake anything. You won’t have to “fake it till you make it.” You won’t have to “try” to be a better spouse (or a better Christian) because God is faithfully at work in you all the time, and He will work the works in you, as He pleases, to make your outside behavior match the New Creation (your identity) that you already are.

I believe the reason there are so many dysfunctional Christians out there is not because we’re failing to get our acts together and start living right. It’s because we are trying to get our acts together and start living right!

My counselor recommended the book “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge, which I didn’t actually start reading until about a year ago. For the sake of the fact that this is already long, I’ll just say that the gist of the book (at least to me), is getting out of our small, metal, inflexible, rigid, religious boxes that we’ve place ourselves (and God) into… and getting out into God’s world and being who HE created us to be! It's an understatement to call God "wild." Just look at His creation. And look at yourself - created in His image.

Today’s Christian culture has created a lot of these small religious boxes for people - and has kept them from experiencing the fullness of who God created them to be. You don’t know the freedom I experienced when I finally broke free from my little box! “I feel beneath the white there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming.” I know that the core of who I am – my spirit – has always been longing to get out and to be who it is created to be! My counselor put that in perspective for me 2 1/2 years ago. And then that day – the day I heard those Adam and the Ants lyrics for the thousandth time – my heart cried out to God as the truth hit me in such a way that I knew I could never, ever get inside that box again!

Popeye put it this way: “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.” And God’s word tells us that all that we are is a truly wonderful creation – a work of God that can’t be kept in a religious box and that can never be faked!