"Our churches are filled with people who outwardly look contented and at peace, but inwardly are crying out for someone to love them... just as they are - confused, frustrated, frightened, guilty, and often unable to communicate with their own families. But other people in the church look so happy and contented that one seldom has the courage to admit his own deep needs before such a self-sufficient group as the average church meeting appears to be."
Keith Miller
From Authentic Relationships by Wayne and Clay Jacobsen
"Finding freedom from the tyranny of other people's opinions is one of the greatest joys of life in Jesus. As long as you live for other people's approval, you are owned by anyone who chooses to lie about you. We are to liberate people from the desire for approval rather than exploit it to get them to "act more Christian." Jesus did not come to train a generation of actors but to transform people to live authentically in the world."
"I love John Stott's definition of humility. In an interview with Christianity Today commemorating his eightieth birthday, this weel-known English author and theologian said that humility is "not another word for hypocrisy, it is another word for honesty. It is not pretending to be other than we are, but acknowledging the truth about what we are."
Living authentically is the freedom to be known exactly as we are - strengths and weaknesses rolled into one. People who understand God's heart love this way of life, while others less enlightened will expend their efforts trying to appear better than they really are."
Freedom is all about this to me but also all about knowing exactly who I am in Christ and who I am in and of myself. Thanking Jesus that He knows, He sees, and He is the One who has given me the freedom to live His life out as He lives in and through me, as me. Knowing this and understanding, appropriating this is true freedom.
Couldn't resist this clip.....Freedom....in country....a little different but what a motivational speech!
1 comment:
Great post!
"Living authentically is the freedom to be known exactly as we are - strengths and weaknesses rolled into one."
Liveing authentically is scary but once we start experiencing it, it's so freeing to be able to put away all of the masks and just be who Father has created us to be. I believe the first requirement for learning to live authentically is to be honest with ourselves. Really honest. We tend to either magnify our weaknesses or to make them less than they really are. When we come to the place that we can accept ourselves the way we are, then we can live authentically with others.
Darin Hufford has said that he's come to accept his humanness. He's accepted the fact that he's human and he will sin. I think that's a great starting point for authenticity.
BTW, I love that movie and I love that particular scene. Freedom really is worth fighting for. Jesus has given it to us but now we have to work to maintain it in a world that seeks to take it away from us.
Aida
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