One of
my spiritual daughters introduced me to a new word a few months ago –
“oxymoron.” Thinking I was clever by knowing literary terms, I quickly realized
this young lady, whose 2nd language is English, had one over on me!
I decided to take the humble response and ask her what an “oxymoron” was. She
gave me some examples, and then in later conversations, we had fun
distinguishing if what we had just said was an oxymoron or not. Here’s one I’ve
been meditating on recently in light of brokenness – “walking dead.”
The
longer I’m on this journey with Jesus, the more I realize that God is asking us
to be the “walking dead” when it comes to our self-life. I know this when I
read verses like Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Truly, His life in me is only evident
when I am dead to my self.
It’s
interesting because I remember another daughter saying in a Bible study that
her recent revelation was that Jesus was her role model. I understood what she
was saying as I used to believe that too. However, after years of striving to
imitate Him and coming out exhausted and deflated, I had the revelation that
I’m not to live my life imitating Him. Trying to be “like” Jesus means I’m taking my
life and attempting to fix it up and making it look like Jesus. Whereas, I
believe, our old nature dies and His new nature comes to life in us. As
shared in a previous post, our spirits are saved at the moment we ask Jesus
into our life, but our souls (mind, will and emotions) are being saved.
Unfortunately, some of us “die hard!”
Although
I wrote the following poem a few years ago, I’ve been coming back to it
recently, in light of the brokenness the Lord desires to see transpire in me.
Why are we trying to be someone we’re not when
Jesus didn’t use His equality with God for His own benefit?
Why are we trying to be a hero when Jesus made
Himself zero?
Why are we trying to gain a title when Jesus gave
up His glory?
Why are we trying to maintain our ‘rights’ when
Jesus gave up His divine privileges?
Why are we trying to play the part with our suits
and ties and shimmery eyes when Jesus had no beauty that would attract us to
Him?
Why are we trying to gain and maintain a reputation
among men when Jesus made Himself of no reputation?
Why are we trying to be noticed when Jesus was
numbered with the transgressors?
Why are we trying to be served when Jesus took on
the humble position of a servant?
Why are we trying to keep up appearances when Jesus
took on the appearance of a man and humbled Himself even to the point of death?
May we,
as the body of Christ, find anew the Lost Art of Brokenness!
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