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I've had a few paradigm shifts in my life. I remember when I discovered the earth is actually the one that's revolving around the sun, that my family wasn't as rich growing up as I thought, that it was more important to have a car that worked rather than one that looked good, just to name a few. But the most important paradigm shifts had to do with my view of God and how He truly wants me to live.
Here are some of the major spiritual paradigm shifts I have had over the years.
- The Christian life is not about me doing things for God. It's about God doing things with and through me.
I used to think the Christian life began by faith, certainly, but then switched over to working for Him. It's like I needed His work to become a new creature, to become alive spiritually. I knew I could never do that on my own. But now, after I have been made alive, I needed to do whatever I could for Him. Then I found out we aren't just saved by faith, but we live by faith. I couldn't do anything to save myself, and I can't really do anything to make myself more like Jesus once I am saved. And I'm not meant to. The Christian life is not about me working for God. It's about God working through me as I trust Him.
- My role as a leader in my marriage is not about me leading my wife where God wants me to be. It's about making any sacrifice I can to get my wife to where God wants her to be.
I thought my role as the spiritual leader in the home meant I needed to pray and ask God where He wanted me to minister. Then I would make decisive leadership calls on what we should do and where we should go. A few years ago, I looked at the example of spiritual leadership Jesus set down for the husband, and I shifted my thinking. Jesus didn't lead the church to where He needed to be. Jesus led the church to where the church needed to be. Jesus sacrificed Himself to make the church everything the church was meant to be. That's when it hit me. I didn't need to spend as much time wondering what God's will was for me. I needed to spend more time getting to know my wife, her passions, her giftedness and look for ways to sacrifice my needs to get her where she can thrive in ministry.
- The goal of the Christian life is not about my life becoming what God wants my life to become. It's just the means to the goal.
For a long time, I thought the goal of a disciple was to become like Christ. After all, a disciple's purpose is to become like their Rabbi, right? So I kept looking forward to my life becoming better, my sinful habits being broken, my stupid decisions becoming scarcer. And don't get me wrong. All those things do happen as we grow in our trusting relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But that's not actually the goal of the Christian life. That's the means to the goal. There is a reason I am becoming more like Jesus. It's so I can share and show Jesus to a world around me that desperately needs to see and hear about Him. Once I realized the Christian life really isn't about my life becoming better, but it's about His life and the lives of others, my whole purpose for being here changed!