The Me I Want To Be

A few weeks ago, the pastor of our church announced we were going to do a book-based Sunday series. I'll admit, when he first said it, I cringed. I have been a party to these kinds of sermon series before, and I have rarely been impressed. Among the prior studies of which I was a part was The Purpose Driven Life craze. That was 7 years ago at a church we no longer attend. Maybe it was the writer in me, but I was not impressed with the book. I liked the idea behind it, but the book itself did little to inspire me. I found it mostly full of trite and tired cliches. I think it must have taken the author less than a day to write the entire thing. Now, in all fairness, there were people -- including my own husband -- who thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get into it.



A few years later, I was part of another book-series at another church. Once again, I wasn't impressed. I actually quit reading the book halfway through that's how uninspired I was by it.



So when our pastor said we were going to do a book study, I had pretty much decided I wouldn't be participating. Been there, done that, not impressed. That was until I actually started reading the book. My husband asked me to give it a fair chance, and for once, I'm glad I listened to him. This book is amazing. It is called The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg. I am only 42 pages into it, but am already impressed by its content. It is clear Mr. Ortberg has put a lot of thought and hard work into this book. And it is clear to me it was breathed into him by a power higher than himself. An example of something that stood out in the book right away was this sentence: "Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others. It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be." Wow. How many times have you watched another Christian person, and felt jealous of them, thinking they were surely more devoted to God than you? This book tells us it's not about trying to be what everyone else is in Christ. It's about being who Christ made us to be. We're unique. Here's another one: "Your 'spritual life' is not limited to certain devotional activities that you engage in. It is receiving power from the Spirit of God to become the person God had in mind when He created you -- his handiwork." Attend church every Sunday, read your Bible all day long -- but if you're not open to being the person God created you to be, you are wasting your time.



I am looking forward to this study and to finishing the book, and most of all, to finding out who God created me to be. If you're interested, you can listen to the Sunday sermons on our church website: www.nccinwexford.org They are always posted the next day.