New Name

I turn 25 today! And things were quite normal. My housemates were asking me, how does it feel to be 25? Personally, nothing has changed much except the stubborn fat around my waist which I try to burn in the gym. Inside, there is and it's quite remarkable how God is working not only me but in each of us. I never thought following God would be as easy as changing a bit of attitude, or do something good. If we were to follow God and grow we have to "let go". We have to let go of everything that we have known. It is inescapable and it is as hard as it may seem, a very painful experience.

All this thinking is quite tiring

All of our lives we had it in our minds what we want ourselves to be: our dreams, our status in the society or what we want to appear as the world sees us. We are excellent in "covering up" the wounds incurred to us, giving out a mask, a false self - created to make us appear strong and infallible as we made our way to the dreams we had in our minds. But what we really are is not the mask we made ourselves to be "successful" by world standards. One by one, God peels each and every layer of mask - each layer that we cling to: layers that serve to have a sense of dignity or of importance, to have a sense of what we want the world to see in us - those layers, God will peel them off and it's just so hard because we love the shell that covers us and we don't want to let them go because we think that without them, we are nothing: without our jobs, we are nothing; if I am not an important person, I am nothing.

Allow God to peel them off. It will make you exposed: you feel so vulnerable... so naked and what is left is your fragile self - full of hurts, full of wounds, full of fears, full of insecurities - you can feel the pains surfacing and literally chilling into your bones. All we can do is to let God attend those wounds - it might be painful just like when you put "agua" in an open wound. Let God robe you with a new self as you become the person he intends you to be:

Revelations 21:5 (NIV)

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Yes, God is making all things new.

Don't be afraid to let God "peel" off your masks as you continue to walk with Him. And in the process He will gave ss a new identity, far different from the identity we desperately create or maintain. He will give us "new names". Remember God, telling Abram to leave his riches in the land of Ur and travel into an unknown and foreign land. He gave him a new name, a new mission, a new destiny - God given destiny. His name become "Abraham", because he is to father a great nation! The nincompoop Jacob became Israel. The church persecutor Saul becomes Paul, God's messenger to the Gentiles. Think how marvelous how God can transform people if they just let Him work in their lives!