A life of discipleship is one full life of becoming.
Becoming –
(adj) SUITABLE; FITTING; especially : attractively suitable
(intransitive verb) 1 (a) To come into existence (b) to come to be 2 to undergo change or development
(transitive verb) to be suitable to
I love that. Becoming. I think I remember Anne Shirley using it to describe a beautiful woman sometime as a youth. Attractively suitable. And I want to be that. Beautiful of heart and character able to meet the challenges that rise up before me.
C.S. Lewis also wrote of becoming in Mere Christianity:
“[E]very time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.”
That is sobering for me. Each day. Each moment. I am becoming something. I hope it is more beautiful. I hope it is more Christ-like. I want to learn to better know God in the way that He has revealed Himself through the Bible. I want to better learn to discern God’s voice through prayer. I want to better say “Yes” to all the things He invites me toward. I want to better see people as God does. I want my heart to break for the things that break God’s heart. I want to learn to love people like Jesus did. And this little corner of the internet is an attempt to share my discipleship journey of becoming more like Christ.
It will be a celebration of growth, realizing His grace and goodness. It will be messy because I am not perfect. It will be stretching because I often find disconnects between what I say I believe and how I live. There will be wrestling on the journey. I am okay with this, because I think God isn’t afraid of my questions or my doubts and I believe that he is able to overcome all that I will encounter in this life. I believe He already has through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. And I believe that this resurrection is my hope. It shows that He is who He says He is. I believe that God longs to redeem me. And I believe that when I am yielded to the Holy Spirit each moment He transforms me. I believe that when I have trouble believing that I can trust that these things are still true. This is what discipleship is about and this is why it is a becoming life.
I believe that God is good and that I am not (though much of the time I live like I think I am good. It’s the good girl syndrome that Emily Freeman describes in her book). I believe Jesus both died for my sin on the cross and that he came to teach me how to live an abundant life (This is Good News!). I believe that God’s kingdom comes when His will is done (and I want to be part of that!). And I believe that one day the kingdom Christ inaugurated will come in its fullness when He returns. He is Lord. Won’t you join me in learning to live in loving obedience.
Know that I am not a tech whiz. I hope to learn. Please give me grace. Know that much of my writing is thought in process and not necessarily the end. Growing is messy like that. And in the midst, I hope to learn from you. I will try to receive gracefully your thoughts and respond back to them in kind. I'd love to hear from you at abecominglife@gmail.com.
Jessica
