Not Yet What You Will Be

The Life You've Always Wanted is one of those books that I continually go back to. And yet, I don't think I've ever read the entire thing. My problem is that I always start at the beginning, at the chapter entitled, "We Shall Morph Indeed." It's about transformation, an idea and a concept that I can never quite wrap my mind around.

It's the idea of change that I can't manufacture on my own, that I can't work hard enough to attain. It's the positive alteration of who I am, not just what I do. And I'm still not sure how it happens.

In the book, John Ortberg describes Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush in the wilderness. God calls Moses to lead Israel and he says he isn't capable enough. In Ortberg's paraphrase, this is God's response:

"It doesn't really matter much. For I will be with you. Your guilt and your inadequacies are no longer the ultimate truth about you. You are what you are--but that's not all that you are. You are what you are, but you are not yet what you will be. I will be with you."

Ortberg calls this the hope of transformation. The hope that our jealous thoughts, petty actions, and selfish desires will not always be with us.

Paul describes it in Romans 7:24-25, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" We have to come to this place first, recognizing our inability to be who we feel we could or should be.

While I've been praying about some deeper issues in my heart, the song I've had on repeat is Steph Modder's "Hope's Got Me" which you can actually download for free on her website.

Hope's got me
wrapped so tightly
this is not the end
I'm ready to begin again

I heard about a college student who was asked if he was a Christian. He said no, he was becoming a Christian. He believed that identifying with Christ was a big deal, something to pursue, but not check off a list. We position ourselves and wait to be transformed, to be changed by God himself, to be shaped into the image of his son. We wait and hope for what is beyond us.