Never Stop Working on Yourself
I live in North Texas, specifically in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. There is a famous interstate-to us anyway-I-35. It’s famous for the wrong reason. As long as anyone can remember there has always been some significant construction going on with I-35. It is so frustrating.
So, we have a running joke that goes “Treat yourself like I-35 and never stop working on YOU, no matter how inconvenient it is for someone else.” Here’s why you should never stop working on yourself.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
Working on yourself: A New Creation
Every Christian was once not a Christian. Some of us got in young, like before age 10 thanks to good ole’ vacation bible school. Some of us got in as teens, in our twenties and some of us got in later in life. It does not matter when you received Christ as your Lord and Savior, we are all family now.
Read: 3 Important Things when Following Jesus
The good news is the old way you used to live your life is now gone. You now get to experience the exciting part of becoming a new creation with Jesus. It will not be easy always. It will get frustrating, and you will be asked to do things you swore you would never do. In my teens, I swore I hated kids and did not want anything to do with them. Now I have two of my own (and in case you two are reading this I love you almost as much as I love cheesecake). I even teach middle school kids at my church every Sunday. Like I said you become a new creation.
Only God could have gotten me to where I am now. Younger more stubborn me would have been determined to do something elsewhere I felt comfortable. The only way I got to where I am was to listen to God and to continually work on myself. You cannot fly if you are afraid to fail. Sometimes I did not want to get up and go teach kids on Sunday morning. Sometimes I did not go.
I was not sick or anything I just was afraid, so I just stayed home. And before you judge me with your judging eyes, I believe we all do it sometimes. I would leave that classroom and convince myself that those kids did not learn a single thing I taught that day. But I still go back every Sunday and I do not know how to explain it.
Ok, it is storytime. When I became a father, I had never taken care of kids before on a regular basis. Besides the random, “here hold this baby while I run to the bathroom” request, my daughter was my first time changing, feeding, burping a baby, etc. I had to learn on the fly because my wife was tired all the time.
When she started talking, she could say the word “cereal bar”, but it sounded like “cerah bah”. Those were her favorite food. The very first time my wife left me at home with this tiny person (yes it took that long because I was a baby moron. I feel those judging eyes on me again) my daughter asked for her favorite food. I opened the new box of 8 toddler cereal bars that had all these vitamins and minerals.
She ate the first one then asked for more. So being the best dad in the universe I gave her another (it had like 12 essential vitamins and minerals, I wanted her to grow up strong). It became a game, she kept asking and I kept giving. By the time we were through, she had eaten all 8. I begged and pleaded that this stay between 26-year-old me and 2-year-old her. It did not. My wife found out and she still tells that story to this day when she is mad at me.
Continue working on yourself
I said all of that to say God has been working on me since I became a Christian at 11 years old. He will continue to work on me until the day that I die. But the most growth will come when I start to work on myself. It has been inconvenient for some of my friends who do not vibe with my new lifestyle. But that is ok, because what a friend we have in Jesus.
Things will get serious in your life. You may develop severely bad habits. Porn might become important to you, drinking might, or a new lady friend your wife does not know about. We all fall, but what makes us children of God is how we get back up. So, I will let you use the joke. Treat yourself like I-35 and never stop working on YOURSELF, no matter how inconvenient it is for someone else.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What are the top two things you feel you can work on right now to become a better Christian?
- Have you felt that tug of God asking you to do something you just do not want to do? Who can you go to talk about it?
- What is stopping you from doing what God tells you to do?
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
