Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday August 11, 2010

I noticed a line on Facebook by Brittan Buchanan and was amazed that a child would be using such verbiage. Perhaps she has suffered much in her young life.

"Who I am hates who I was."

Loathing our former self is healthier than loathing our present self, but truth be told, neither is all that healthy and here's why: Our former self plays a large part in discovering who we are in the present and is a sounding board on who we are becoming. An old line that I never liked all that much has it: "You are who you have been becoming." I suppose the line is alright but I never cared all that much for the man who used it on his stationary.

As a young man I was what many called "An unholy terror" and I reveled in the title. The mores of my group loved conflict and trouble and if there happened to be no trouble we would create it. The damage done in those pre-conversion days has helped me to really think things through before jumping in and for this I am glad. In my enlarged opinion of myself, most of the religious battles I have observed are silly when reduced to the quintessence, as were the more physical battles of my wasted youth.

Loathing the former self is mostly a destructive waste of time, talent and treasure, because unlike victorious governments, we cannot rewrite our inner history. The history of our self is there in stone with letters of lead. It serves as a devilish or divine guide according to the dominate desire of our heart. This is why we must through Christ learn to develop a higher thought than, "Well, I'm not as bad as I was." One friend finds comfort of sorts in the thought that he is "not as bad as my mother in law." Of course no one could ever be that depraved. "I ain't what I ought to be, I ain't what I could be, I ain't what I want to be, but thank God I ain't what I was and hallelujah, I ain't what I'm going to be." This saying was used extensively during the Civil rights Freedom Rides and it conveys the idea of moving from something toward something better on the personal level. This is the biblical philosophy taught throughout the scriptures.

Numerous biblical passages teach the progressive life in Christ through grace. One of my favorites is this one in 1 John 3:2:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit

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