Recently I saw an episode of Oprah, who was talking to a woman who had previously been a man. Oprah's concluding thought was, "I'm so glad you kept searching to find yourself, because, that's really what we're here for, to become more and more ourselves."
As I thought about that, I realized two things:
1. That is a recurrent theme in movies and popular culture - to search for ourselves, to find ourselves, to become more ourselves;
and
2. That is the opposite of our goal, as Christians.
Galatians 2:20a says, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
Jeremy Camp's song Empty Me articulates this idea:
Holy Fire burn away,
my desire for anything
that is not of you and is of me.
I want more of you and less of me.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
We're not here to become more like ourselves, we're here to become more like our God.
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