Entire industries exist with the primary purpose of helping us change what we don't like about ourselves. Fitness and diet industries. Beauty and fashion industries. To help us come to terms with traits that may be difficult or impossible to change, the counseling and therapy sectors offer their services.
What do these mega-billion dollar enterprises say about our individual self-concepts? Basically, that we will be satisfied with ourselves if and when we become who we want to be.
The problem: who I want to be is a moving target. As a child, I had certain ideas about what I should become personally and professionally. These goals evolved through adolescence and young adulthood, and are undoubtedly still evolving. Did I ever reach a single target before finding my focus had shifted to another? This cyclical approach to being is both exhausting and disappointing.
Scripture gives us a different perspective, however. Our goal, as Christians, is not to achieve some satisfactory physical or emotional state while on earth. Our goal is to fix our eyes on Christ, who is working to redeem all of Creation to its proper form and function. As Hannah Anderson writes:
"Our God is making all things new. He is making you new. And He can do this for the fundamental reason that all things flow 'from Him and through Him and to Him.' Including us. Especially us."
We were created in God's image, and are now being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). This process will not be completed until we are in God's presence.
Anderson concludes, "One day, He will transform your lowly body to be like His glorious body... And one day -- oh, glorious day -- you will be like Him because you will see Him as He is. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Quickly Come."
What does this mean for Christians, who live here and now? First, that we can stop pursuing temporal "improvement" as our defining traits. And second, that God is working in and through us to accomplish His goals for our lives. We don't have to achieve a certain weight, flawless skin, or a profitable career. We only have to trust our days and our lives to the One who is making all things new.
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