Ever feel like your life is one big long project of self-improvement?

How much time do we spend trying to get it all together and make it all better?

A lot.

Well, at least I do. If this isn’t a thing for you, you can encourage the rest of us. . .

How much effort do we put into trying to feel like we’re enough? That we have what it takes?

If I Get-It-All Together, Where Will I Put It?

I recently had a very spiritual AHA moment:

[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#busyness, #busywoman, #selfimage”]If I get it all together, where will I put it?[/tweetthis]

And by the way, what is IT?

Can anyone actually define the IT in get-IT-altogether?

For that matter, how much IT does it actually take to get it all together? How do we know how much does it take to be enough? There’s not a clear answer on this, is there?

To be honest, I’m  tired of trying to get it all together. I’m relieved God is teaching me new ways to think about my life and who I am. He’s teaching me to have confidence that I’m a new creation and my life is not my project.

[tweetthis]Note to self: It’s a life, not a performance.[/tweetthis]

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.–2 Corinthians 5:17 

This amazing truth sets us free from the constant striving to get ourselves together, to make ourselves better.

Our new-creation-self in Christ is not an improved, spiffed up version of self. 

Jesus didn’t come to make us better, but to make us new.

We know this, but sometimes the distance from head to heart is greater than 12 inches. Getting from head-knowledge of facts to life-knowledge of experience comes one day at a time.

How do we learn to live this new-creation life?

In the book Grace Walk, Steve McVey writes, “When you believe you are a new creation of Christ, you won’t feel the need to act. You can just be yourself, allowing the nature of Christ within your spirit to flow through your personality and out of your life, like the river of living water…that flows from your innermost being.”

Be original. Be yourself. Be Real. Bel led by the Spirit.

When we trust God with our identity, we discover that our life is not our project. 

For all of us get-it-all-together addicts,

this is game-changing news!

We can let go of the pressure to get-it-all-together because God will put us together. This is the difference between getting by in our own resources and effort and walking by faith.

May God himself, 

the God who makes everything holy and whole…

put you together—spirit, soul, and body—

and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ.

The One who called you is completely dependable.

If he said it, he’ll do it! 1 Thessalonians 5:23 MSG

Christ brings body, soul, and spirit in line with God’s design for our lives. In Christ, he puts it all together in us and brings forth our true identity. This is the joy of discovering our identity in Christ.

May God Himself–this is the personal touch of God, active and present in our lives. These verses are part of Paul’s prayer for believers. He asks for God to do something special. Something extraordinary, and something we cannot do for ourselves.

This is how to get it all together! It’s a work that only Christ can do.

This is what God delights to do–He is a God of wholeness, bringing all of us back into completeness that we were created for.

Spirit. Soul. Body.

This is wholeness: complete in all its parts, in no part wanting or unsound. Another translation says, sanctify you entirely.

This is no half-way kind of talk.

God is in the process of making us all-the-way whole and holy.  This is sacred work that only God can do, an identity only God can give. There are no half-measures with God.

He will not leave you half-done, part-way.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.    –Philippians 1:6

When we get discouraged with our flesh, thinking I don’t have it together…I’m not the woman I need to be…When we start down that bumpy road, God wants to encourage us. He will put us together—body, mind, and soul—he will bring it to completion.

So we can relax.

And breathe.

And let go of trying to do it all perfectly.

Yes, indeedy!

Let’s trust God to do what He says. Isn’t it time to get out of God’s way and let the Holy Spirit do the things He wants to do in our lives. How will life be different if we stop living like our life is a project rather than a life in Christ?

Walking in the Spirit means trusting the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot do ourselves.

Check out the award-winning book, Holy in the Moment. Join Ginger Harrington for an encouraging look at making the most of daily choices to to trust God in the moment. Overcome anxiety, perfectionism, insecurity, and other flesh traits that hold us back. Find freedom in Christ one moment at a time!

Related Post:

If I Get it All Together, How Much is Enough?

 

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