Fully Formed

What does a fully formed Christian look like?

That is one of those questions that can raise all sorts of responses.

The first might be a bit of a defensive one. You might wonder if we can ever be fully a Christian? After all, none of us are perfect. Even on our best days we make mistakes and missteps. The Apostle Paul once wrote, 'why do I do the things I don't want to do and leave undone the things I wish to do.' Call it the human condition to look in a mirror dimly and think we can make out the faint shadow of a wart. And because this is a difficult question to answer, we might be tempted to simply shrug our shoulders and say, 'Well, since I can never be fully Christians...why bother?'

And yet, for me, this question will not go away.

My second response is a more analytical one. Stroking the beard on my chin, I begin to wax eloquent about, 'what does it mean to be a Christian? A follower of Jesus to be sure, but what might that look like...perhaps I should check out a book.' In this way, I seek to sidestep the question by pleading ignorance, that I need more information. If I just read one more book or take one more class or go to church just a few more weeks.

And yet, for me, this question will not go away.

My third response is to be more open. To realize that the reason why this question will not go away is not because it is too hard to answer or live out or that I need more knowledge. The truth is this question will not go away because it sits in my gut like a dessert from the Cheesecake Factory.

To be a fully formed Christian starts with an affirmation that I am fully formed by God who knows me fully and loves me fully and calls me to be fully myself. It is not my deficiencies, many though they are, that inhibits me from being fully a Christian; what stops me most often from living fully into God's presence all around me is focusing too much on those deficiencies or too much on trying to be in control, do things my way.

To be a fully formed Christian starts with God. God's grace and love and presence. That is enough. But because of that presence it does awaken a response from me. Because of God's grace and love and presence it leads me to honest prayer, to open scripture, to join in worship with singing and listening and being still. Because of God's grace and love and presence it leads me to be more just and be careful in how I act toward my wife, kids, and those I bump up against each day. Because of God's grace and love and presence it calls me out of my comfort zone and narrow bubble of life into God's world that has problems and pain that needs a human, in the flesh, response.

Jesus is the in the flesh response from God that reminds us of what life, true life looks, sounds, feels and can be. Jesus is the in the flesh response from God that calls us to just relationships with others. Jesus is the in the flesh response from God that is the promise of each day.

To be sure, prayer and worship and serving don't make me fully formed Christian. God claimed me as such with the waters of baptism and I taste that promise every time I drink from the cup at communion. Prayer and worship and serving are the visible responses to God's presence. Yet, I need to be careful not to put the proverbial cart before the horse. Keeping the perspective and to keep wrestling with this question.

I ask you, what does a fully formed Christian look like?

May you notices traces of God's grace in your life this day and throughout the days to come.

Blessings