Christianity is Just Like Jazz

One of the things that is most misunderstood about Christianity is that people think  that being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ means uniformity. It couldn't be further from the truth. Being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is like becoming an accomplished Jazz musician. Any really good jazz musician will tell you that to become really really good at Jazz there are basic chords and chord progressions one must learn. Mastering those doesn't mean that you play just like everyone else. Rather it means that you become equipped to spontaneously and uniquely express yourself in music. Knowing those and learning those free you up to create amazingly original expressions of  jazz.

So it is with Christianity. When we are told in Scripture to be conformed to the image of Christ, it means that we are to learn his ways: love, joy, surrender, faith, prayer, trust, hope, moral purity, self-control, abiding in Him etc....At a surface glance, these things might appear to be restrictive and suppressive of our desire for freedom. But Scripture makes it very clear; those who indulge in the flesh are conforming. They are acting like everybody else. They aren't free because they are acting under the dictates of their nature. They aren't free to do otherwise.

You know, when I hear someone "freely expressing themselves" with a series of expletives in the grocery store---I don't think "Wow, that person has so much creativity in how they speak!" Rather, I think "Hmmmm they need to find a few extra words to add to their vocabulary." Listening to someone who swears like a sailor is like listening to an episode of the smurfs. It may feel to them like they are freely and creatively expressing themselves, but to me its just the same old boring version of tacky.

We are so afraid in our basic nature that when we walk in the ways of Christ, when we learn of Him we will lose who we are. But His ways are freedom. Just like those jazz chord progressions, when I learn forgiveness, patience, love and joy....I am completely freed up to be a unique expression of Him. My gifts, my unique talents come into full bloom as I conform to Christ. So don't be afraid that conformity. It transforms you into a transposition of His love--a unique melody of His grace.

Are you the worst party crasher?

Today was one of those days where I got a good hard painful look at how much ego plays into my sense of well being. In the midst of so much to be thankful for, I find that I am much too quick to ask myself if I am a good daughter, a good wife, a good mother, a good daughter-in-law. If the answer is no, then there follows so much pain, so much hurt, so much sense of loss. Those questions sound innocent enough, but really there is so much beneath those self-reflective tendencies that really are all about ego. Can I feel good about myself today because I have been good?

The hardest thing to come back to over and over is to let myself discover the truth again that Christ has died that I don't have to try to be what I cannot be in this body on this earth--perfect. He is the perfect one. He came to live perfectly for me so that I can find satisfaction in Him. But why then is it so painful to face that I am not always or most of the time able to be good in the roles in my life? Why does that hurt so much? I guess because the hardest person to disappoint is myself. I want so much to find what it is for Christ to live in me. But I want so much to avoid the fact that for Him to live I must die. No shortcuts. No pleasant painless route to that life in Christ. Only death.

I hope today for those of you who had a painful reminder like I did that the person who usually crashes the party of my expectations is myself, remember today that there is one who was willing to crash into the messy business of living as a human being to save us. One who was willing to be housed in a barn with hay and leave the perfection of heaven that I we might have hope of a restored relationship with a perfect God. A God who is willing to take on imperfection and clothe Himself with humility that I might be clothed with righteousness. He is today and forever God with Us. Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord!