"Be Who You Are"

I'm not sure if the current generation still gives this answer, but before when someone would ask a friend, "Hey, how do I get this person to like me?" they would probably say, "Just be yourself!"  At the time, that was pretty much the holy grail answer, but reflecting on that advice, I realize that's horrible advice!  Obviously being yourself doesn't work because if it did, that person would like you already, right?  Nowadays, that type of answer wouldn't suffice for me, at least not when it comes to attracting someone from the opposite gender!

I'm currently reading this book called The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung -actually I only read this book when I remember I'm reading this book- and the author talks about the reasons why our holiness seems to be lacking, even though we know we have been saved through faith.  He lists some of the reasons why this hole in our holiness is there: we don't know what holiness means, we think that holiness is something that can never be achieved because of our continual sinfulness, holiness is for "those" people but not for me, and other reasons.

In one particular chapter that I've been meditating on a lot recently, the title of it is "Be Who You Are" as an encouragement on how to pursue the holiness we are missing, and it reminded me of the scenario that I started this post about.  "Be who you are" sort of sounds like the mindless, cop-out answer you would tell your love-stricken friend smitten over the girl with the cherry-red curls and bright smile.  "Oh, just be yourself!"  Initially, I thought Is DeYoung trying to set me up for a fall?  Do I attain holiness by approaching my sin, telling it my name, age, birthday, and occupation, try to make it laugh a little, and hope for the best?  But upon immediately reading the chapter, you notice that this is not his point at all. The way to attain holiness is not be who you are, the rotten sinner, but be who you are, the sinner saved by grace.  He encourages us to be who we are in Christ.

Our union in Christ spurs us to be holy.  We receive all our spiritual blessings because of our union in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  Because of this union, we are able to participate and enjoy the benefits of Christ himself.  Because we have been spiritually engrafted into His body, the Holy Spirit -which binds our bodies into His-works in us to make ourselves more Christlike and produces in us a holiness that comes only from Him.  His joys become our joys; His strength becomes our strength; His will is made known to us so that we can carry it out; we get to reap the eternal benefits of our salvation in Him.

But also our union in Christ helps and encourages us in our spiritual walks.  The pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of Christ.  Being holy really only means one thing, and that is taking on the characteristics of Jesus - after all we are made in God's image.  The pursuit of holiness is the understanding of our justification and the working out of our sanctification.  In a sense pursuing holiness puts these two theological truths in the proper perspective.  We desire to be holy because we are justified by grace alone and we want to be more like the loving and merciful Savior who saved us and we want to please the Heavenly Father who sent His Son to justify us.  In effect, we are sanctified and made more like Christ when we understand our justification and carry out God's will.  The pursuit of holiness binds these truths together as "different sides of the same coin."

The Bible gives us a lot of imperatives or commands because those are things we are to do as Christians.  I'm not preaching a works-based salvation, I'm preaching a works-after salvation.  Good works should be a fruit of our salvation, but since we are still sinners we need to be reminded what holiness looks like, and that's why the Bible gives so many imperatives.  When the Bible says to love your enemies, don't be angry, don't throw curses at your neighbors, or even saying an encouraging word to someone, we do all these things because it is the character of Jesus Christ.  We do it because we want to be more like Christ, and it pleases the Father when we become conformed to His image.

A few weeks ago during Youth Group Worship, I had picked a song set that dealt with the benefits we have because of our union in Christ.  "Be who you are in Christ" was what I was going for.  But who are we in Christ?  In Christ, we are dead to sin and alive in Christ (Amazing Grace - My Chains are Gone).  In Christ, we are justified and considered righteous (Nothing but the Blood of Jesus).  In Christ, we are called to holiness (As the Deer).

To fill the gap in our holiness, we ought to be who we are in Christ and live lives that demonstrate the newness of life we have in Christ Jesus - freed, cleansed, and called.