"LosingMyself"

When I started this blog, I was a few days shy of eighteen years old. I was on the brink of adulthood and preparing to face the world in which we live. Many teenagers in my stage of life were setting out to "find" themselves. If only they could travel more, experience more, meet more people, fall in love for the first time, get a good job and make something of themselves, etc., etc., then they would be able to find themselves.

To counteract the idea that the purpose of life is to "find" oneself, I titled my very first blog LosingMyself. The goal of this blog, and of my life, is not to find myself, but to lose myself in Him. I am to become less as Christ becomes more in my life.

That was almost three years ago. I have enjoyed and endured about 1,000 days since then. My, how things have changed! Traveling, experiencing, meeting people, falling in love (with my Savior and with my future beloved), getting my first real job, moving in the direction of my future career... Those things have all happened. I've had five semesters of college and a part-time job, two semesters of counseling, and five weeks in Asia. I gained a stepdad and an entire stepfamily. I narrowed down my career focus. 

And yet, those things do not satisfy. Those things do not define me beyond my earthly existence. Any of them could be taken away.

Even though I have learned so much more about myself and been able to identify and name myself in these three years, I am still reminded of my goal here. LosingMyself. In the end, this life is not about me. 

The beautiful thing is that God uses those "temporary trappings" of our earthly existences to give us eternal things. For example, I am learning how to use something "temporary" like education to build relationships with my students and their families. Out of those discussions about English literature or those relationships with students and families can come conversations about God. Out of chai lattes and peppermint mochas, very temporary things, can come a listening ear and an encouraging heart. 

The truth is that Jesus came into the culture in which he was born. He lived among the people. He spoke their language, wore their clothes, ate their food, drank their drinks, and met their needs. And He did this without succumbing to their sins. Likewise, we are called to be in this world, but not of it. Have we forgotten how to be in it?

So let us dig our roots deep where God has planted us and stretch our blooms higher to heaven. Let us use the gifts he has given us and the temporary materials he has placed around us to affect this world for his glory. 

I am "LosingMyself" because, while I am the beautiful bride of Christ, there is so much of "me" that is not Christ. The image of God in me has been marred by the Fall. Thus, this journey to lose myself is a journey of sanctification. A journey to strip off every weight that so easily entangles and run the race of endurance.


But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
- Philippians 3:7-9

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.... And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
- Romans 8:1-3, 9-10


Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
- Matthew 10:39

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
- Ephesians 5:1-2



Last updated: 2 January 2013