A lot of people these days think that in order to find happiness we have to “find ourselves.” Have you experienced this? Or do you know someone who has taken a gap year to travel, maybe tried a specific dietary lifestyle, or who disabled their social media accounts in order to “find themselves”?
I have. I think we all have a craving to be understood, and we think that the best way to fix this craving is to look inward and figure out what makes us tick. We ask ourselves--“What is it that I REALLY want in life?”-- so we can figure out what we’re supposed to do or who we’re meant to be. Sorry to break it to you, but this method won’t work.
Pastor Tim Keller gave an excellent sermon in which he explained that looking inward can never be the answer to our problems because, as humans, we are governed by our feelings. And feelings are fleeting. Even when we think we have the best intentions, our sinful nature gets in the way.
The apostle Paul recognized even he couldn’t control his sinful nature: “ Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
So what is the answer? How do we become the best versions of ourselves? How do we find ourselves?
“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”-C.S. Lewis
In order to find ourselves, we must lose ourselves to the One who created us, and everything that is good in the world. Think you know what’s best for yourself? I guarantee God will prove you wrong EVERY. TIME. It sounds intimidating, I know, but it all starts with one small step.
Start to write in a journal, ASKING God what is that HE would like to do with your life. Buy a daily devotional so that you can begin to spend time with Him every single day. Even if it’s just for five minutes in the morning, something is better than nothing.
Take a leap of faith. One babystep can change everything!
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