The Image of Christ

"God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives." -John Piper, "Don't Waste Your Life"

Wow. Can you imagine how radically different our world would be if each of us sought after this? To not be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

How often I find my attention drawn inward on myself. Focused on my needs. My desires. My insecurities. My reputation.

To not be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives. That is powerful.

I pray Christ work in our hearts, giving us contentment and completion in Him. I pray He continually remind us by Whom we are defined, and I pray we may be a reflection not of ourselves, but Christ; that there may be less of us and more of Him.

Made to Compliment Not Complete

Today I met up with some dear friends. Their heartache greatly affected me. Both have been abandoned by men, and both question why.

There is a need in each of us for relationship. I feel it; I see it. I have sought completion outside of Christ, and each time I ended up broken like these women. Why? Because people are not constant. They never can be and never will be.

It is so hard to listen to these women discuss their pains; mostly because I know the cure. Only Christ will never forsake us. Only His love is constant, and this is His promise: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). "Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

The world tells us to seek completion outside of ourselves. It is accurate in that; the source of completion is where it diverges.

Yes, another human can comfort us in our loneliness and encourage us in our deficiencies; another human cannot, however, fill the void deep within our hearts. We were intended to compliment each other not complete one another, and until we realize this, we will continue to fall in and out of one empty and unfulfilling relationship after another.

After creating Adam, God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Genesis 2:18). God did not create Eve to complete Adam; Adam was already complete in God. God, contrastingly, created Eve to compliment and assist Adam.

Before the fall, Adam and Eve complimented each other as God intended--and because they were intimately and completely connected with their Creator, neither recognized their nakedness: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25).

When, however, Adam and Eve broke their perfect relationship with God by eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, their nakedness becomes obvious: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Genesis 3:7). Man, outside of perfect unity with his Creator, is thus incomplete and insecure, and it is in Christ--and only Christ--that we are complete.

I wholeheartedly pray we realize this, seeking completion in the One whose image we bear.

Broken

The path of the world is happiness. The path of God is joy. Happiness is transitory and temporary. Joy is eternal. Happiness yearns for more because it never truly satisfies. Joy satisfies completely.

I know this because I once was on the path of the world. My life was a series of moments—events without reason. And while I was happy at times, I was never fully satisfied. The world could not fill the void deep within my heart, and it was in my brokenness that I experienced the lasting and complete joy of Christ.

I don’t judge the world; rather, I am broken for the world. My heart aches deeply to see people futilely attempt to fill their emptiness with emptiness. Why? Because I see a part of me in them…