\u201cThe gospel message is being molded to suit an increasingly narcissistic culture. Conversion is proclaimed as the road to self-realization\u2026 Religion\u2026 as a way to help us uncover our human potential \u2013 our personal, social, and business success, that is. Modern conversion brings Jesus into our lives rather than bringing us into his. We are told that Jesus is here to help us do better what we are already doing. Jesus doesn\u2019t change our lives, He improves them.\u201d \u2013 Jim Wallis<\/p>\n
\u201cIf any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me;\u201d the words of Christ about what it is to wear the moniker of his likeness. In opposition to this, the agenda of \u201cself\u201d is an overwhelming force of culture in our society. Countless catchphrases and advice suggest that if you don\u2019t take care of yourself, achieve what you want for yourself, be all you can be, be everything to everyone\u2026etc: You are a failure. You will be irrelevant to your society and worthy of being left behind by the pack. When our personal measure of worth is running low, we seek whatever new achievement methodology that can help us get through to our better prosperous self. Be it The Secret, Become a Better You<\/span>, the firewalker experience of Unlimited Power, Dianetics, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People<\/span>, or any other of the myriad of paths to success: Christianity has been pursued as just another brand name of metaphysical control in one\u2019s own personal journey of self-reliance and mastery of the world around them. It breeds the same type of exclusionary discussion as well, \u201cMy \u2018spiritual\u2019 method works for me. You should try it. Maybe it will work for you.\u201d Not exactly the words of Christ echoing out into the world of life changing belief.<\/p>\n The wonder of the Savior is in the change in our lives and the lives of others as He likens our \u201cself\u201d to Him. We do not achieve this on his behalf. We do not pursue Him to receive the rewards of the temporal. The likening of our hearts and minds to Him causes a change in what our life is defined by; it causes a change in what our thoughts and actions attend to. It causes a response to God and others which not only embraces the gentleness of the Savior, but sustains our consciousness of who we are in Him. The new life is embraced in his life. Just as the Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, \u201cIt is not I who live, but Christ, who lives in me.\u201d It is the death to self which embraces the life in Christ. His life was personified by loving the Father and caring for others. In fulfilling the Law and the prophets: He loved others to the point of death on their behalf and loved the Father in obedience to death on behalf of humanity. Not exactly the methodology of the aforementioned books, or the idea that God is here to improve your quality or experience of life: But it stands to be the most powerful life lived in history. In truth, the intended quality improvement is in the experience of the Father. Prayerfully and responsively, having true unity with the one to whom every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess Lordship of.<\/p>\n The difference is made in the significance of others and the satisfaction of Christ living though you and touching others lives. We feel the real blessing of affecting others in ways which make them feel whole, as they come to know their own experience of Christ living through them. Connectivity, compassion and community: The change of focus to Christ and others \u2013 A worthy trade for isolation, achievement and entitlement, which close our hearts in the high-walled city of our selves. This is the path of our death to the pursuit of self and regeneration of the life of Christ living in us. Are you weary in the lack of significance and success in your current pursuits? Are you running out of strength in achieving your goals? Are you maxed-out by circumstances crashing in your world today? The next moment you feel the need to redefine your internal structure or rewrite your personal mission statement, or even justify why you are where you are, sit back and recall the words of Christ: \u201cCome to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.\u201d Bathe yourself in his identity of who you are. You are his and he lives through you. Be transformed by the wonder of being brought into his life; a new life which is no longer you, but Christ living through you. Be comforted by a Savior who came that you might have a new life in Him: That you may resign the weariness of satisfying your own needs and rely on the one gives richly in the provision of those whom He loves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe gospel message is being molded to suit an increasingly narcissistic culture. Conversion is proclaimed as the road to self-realization\u2026 Religion\u2026 as a way to help us uncover our human potential \u2013 our personal, social, and business success, that is. Modern conversion brings Jesus into our lives rather than bringing us into his. We are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-daily-life","has-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.joshuaweir.com\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}