Stop trying to be a better you. God is not interested in you being a better you. He’s interested in you becoming like Jesus.
So many self-help groups today. So many books and tv shows. Seven steps to a better this, ten ways to improve that. While many of them may have helpful tips for your career or your waistline, they will not fix your real problem.
What is the end game in life? A killer job? A trim physique? A comfortable retirement? All nice things, but they have no bearing on your character. They say nothing about who you truly are. And they certainly count for nothing in determining your eternal destiny.
Think back to a top-of-the-line computer in 1982. The envy of businessmen and nerds alike. The best that was available. But did it really do much? Not really. Some of us still have that computer kicking around in storage somewhere, but does anyone write books today on making your Amiga or TRS-80 the best it can be? Of course not – that would be ridiculous. Today’s basic cell phones have far more capabilities than those computers ever did!
So why do we do the same with ourselves? God wants to create in us a new heart, not trick out the one we have. He’s not interested in restoring us to our previous condition. Even at our best, we are still fallen, depraved, and rotten to the core! He doesn’t want that! He wants us to be like Jesus. And if we are like Jesus, if we acquire the mind of Christ, our desires will become his desires.
Left to ourselves, we will try to be good, but our hearts are still wicked. No amount of effort will overcome our desires. We will find ourselves falling to the same habits and sins that we have always struggled with. If I tell you not to think of yellow bunnies, what will you think of? Yellow bunnies! If you use all your effort thinking about not doing some vice, you are still thinking about that thing! And ultimately, eventually, you will fall into it again.
But if we are becoming more and more like Christ, if we are filling our minds with his word, our thoughts and desires will become his. Rather than focusing on not doing bad things, we are focusing on relationship with him, which has the result of producing good fruit.
Stop trying to be a better you. God is not interested in you being a better you. He’s interested in you becoming like Jesus.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez 36:26)
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)
“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 Jn 2:6)
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