Ben Stears, a recent participant in BreakThrough, shared the following on his blog Called Out.
I love his image of God doing chest bumps in celebration of creating each of us!
I love music. It's really that simple. I'm by a computer most of the day and more times than not you'll find Pandora opened up in one of my Firefox windows. Not familiar with Pandora? You need to become familiar with Pandora. Free, customizable, internet-based radio. It's like having your own personal DJ that brings you your favorites and few welcome surprises as well. LOVE it. Just saying . . .
A couple of nights ago, we had K-Love on at our house. (My son loves to listen and dance to music, and K-Love is the one station that we don't have to worry about him picking up unfortunate additions to his vocabulary. Not to mention, they play pretty good music.)
I was just playing along having a good time with my little man, and the song "Free To Be Me" by Francesca Battistelli came on. Ever heard it?
Here's a link where you can hear the song and see the lyrics: Free To Be Me
As some of you know, I've been on a bit of a journey over the past couple of months. In a sentence, God has been showering these Grace-filled words over my heart: Ben, you are enough. Just be you.
Francesca's song speaks to that.
If you've known me for long, you know that I love people. I love to be around people. I love to be with people. I love to invest in people. But, there's a dark-side to that too. I love to be liked by people. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with having friends. But, I'm a recovering "approval addict". I had years of my life that were dominated by the felt-necessity for all people to like and love me. And so, I would chameleon myself to fit into whatever situation I was in.
I didn't tell extravagant lies or go do things that were way outside of my character. But, I would change simple things: the stories I told, the music I liked, the words I used, the clothes I wore . . . all in an effort to be liked. If I was already liked, I wanted to be liked more. I would even go so far as to compare how much people liked me with how much they liked others. I wanted to be the "most" liked.
It's sick . . . I know.
But, I've been in recovery on that issue for a few years now. For several years, I've been striving to be real, genuine, authentic. I began to speak my piece and move on.
But, if I'm honest, I didn't believe deep-down within me that being me was enough. I had to be more.
Here's what I feel like God is teaching me.
1) God made me.
2) God doesn't make junk.
Therefore, I'm not junk. I am, in fact, God's masterpiece. His fine work of art.
So are you.
The Bible even supports it. Check out the words of Ephesians 2:10 (from the Amplified Bible)
For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
We are God's handiwork. In other words, God made you. God made me. And when He was done, He stepped back and said, "Dang, I'm good." Then, He called over an angel or two just to show off. After a round of high-fives and chest-bumps in celebration of creating me, he created you and the celebration happened again.
No matter where you've been. No matter what you've done. God loves you . . . as . . . you . . . are.
It's just that simple.
I'm resting in that these days. The powerful, life-altering reality of Grace.
I'm free to be . . . me.
AND, you're free to be . . . you.
Ben is planting a new church in Gardner KS as an extension of Indian Creek Community Church
