Jesus is more than our example. He’s our revealer too. What does that mean? That means we don’t know what’s in our hearts. Be forewarned there will be some things you will hear like a broken record because it’s so important yet it’s simple. Often that component can make it easy to overlook the important factor. The subject matter of unlocking our true heart is potent and it can transform your life. Hence, the broken record.
For example, Peter did not, and this is one of the broken records I mentioned, Peter didn’t wake up and say I’m going to deny Jesus today that’s my plan for today. He did the opposite. He was the one declaring the other disciples would deny Christ. His literal words “33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” – Matthew 26:33-35
Yet, we see how that turned out.
Jesus knew.
In plain terms, Jesus knows what’s in our hearts and we don’t. Thoughts, beliefs, and repressed emotions have a way of hiding behind the mislabels we’ve named them for our false sense of protection and safety. We think, “Man I thought I was done with that!” However, it’s still there because we didn’t yield it all to the Lord or we thought we had reached a certain place. This mislabeling can cause us to think higher than ourselves than we ought. When it comes up, we usually keep pushing past it. However, out of sight and mind can only last for so long. When we ignore revelation and continue to keep moving through life, we often forget God wants us to stop and address that area when it surfaces. He wants us to address it because it’s not godly, it’s not aligned with the newness we are in Christ. The truth is we need to drop it. It must go.
Learning to Let Go
It doesn’t matter who it is, what it is, and what we enjoy. If it’s not from Christ it must go. It can’t live with us. Paul said everything is lawful but is it beneficial? Will it benefit you in your walk and your pursuit of becoming like Jesus? When we don’t live with that intention, we’re going to miss the mark more often than we realize. We’re not going to enter into the rest that he has for us. What do I mean by rest? In Hebrews 4 the writer talks about how the Israelites missed their rest because of disobedience. That doesn’t necessarily mean we wouldn’t get to heaven. It means while we are here on earth we might live a life of unrest, discontentment, and unsatisfied for 40 years. Or however long it takes to plow the soil of the heart. It means a life you didn’t have to live but God will respond to our disobedience. It also means life didn’t have to be an unsettled anxiety-filled life if we had just yielded and obeyed the Lord.
Exposing our hearts reveals the truest condition of our hearts. Yes, it’s usually ugly and we don’t want it associated with us. However, if we allow the exposure of whatever ugliness is hidden in our hearts to be exposed and then give it to the Lord, it would change our life. That exposure reveals whatever lies you have believed, whatever conditioning you’ve been raised in. It reveals whatever processes you use to establish your perspective, how you think things through, the attitudes you have, it tells what’s in your heart. The only way to get to the truest part of it is Jesus. He is the revealer of those secret things we don’t talk about but still haunts us. He’s the revealer and he exposes what’s in the heart, things we don’t even realize are there. He did it throughout all scripture, for example, with the Rich Young Ruler and the Woman at the Well. That’s what he does because He wants the truth to be awakened in us. He wants His light that gives life to give us spiritual insight. He lights up the dark areas of our hearts and lives. No shadows just light. That’s one of the benefits of walking with God.
Those whom the Son set free, are free indeed because Jesus is the truth. We should always be open to that revelation no matter how uncomfortable or ugly it is. Though it’s not easy to do, it’s necessary. Especially in the Christian worldview. Why?
Pretending for People Isn’t An Option
Many people saved or not struggle with pretentiousness. Instead of being honest within and about ourselves, we try to represent something more palatable. To no avail, we pretend to be more mature or unbothered attempting to impress upon someone that we are strong or mature. That’s how it goes right? We fake strength because we’ve been taught only the strong survive. We fake maturity by way of fake unbothered so we can distance ourselves from the hurt feelings we felt or feel. If we don’t have the capacity to fake it, most will try to hide it. We hide behind many things, for many different reasons. What we fail to remember is that everyone has issues but how we respond to those issues is what molds us into image-bearing Christians or not. It’s important to remember, people are fickle. One day they love you the next day they don’t and most of the time they don’t even know the reason why. However, our desire for approval should be approval from God, not man. We’re not going to stand before anyone, but God. Also, remember no one else died on the cross for you but Christ so why attempt to be approved by anyone or impress anyone? It is fruitless and a time waster.
Unfortunately, here’s the truth pretentiousness is prominent in the church because as a believer there are certain things we don’t want named among us. It may lead to a flawed impression and opinion from others. In your mind, though it may be true, people are going to see you a certain way. However, again that’s another form of people-pleasing. Jesus did not care about the opinions of men and there were quite a few. From calling him possessed, a glutton, and a drunkard, Jesus responded in Luke 7:34-36 with an act of kindness and security in his identity that we should follow. Here’s why, when we worry about what somebody else will think or how they will see us we are holding their opinion as true. People don’t define you, Jesus does.
Heart Surgery Doesn’t Feel Good
God’s intention is not to harm us but to produce something in us, righteousness and a Christlike mind and life.
Listen, I’m going to share a conversation that the Lord had with me long ago. He said, “Nicole as deep as I have to cut you is how deep I’ll heal you.” Hebrews 4:11-13 immediately came to mind, and I will never forget that. It was a moment in my life where I was trying to hold on to what I thought was protection for me against people. Yet in that moment, the Lord revealed I had to let those things go and He had to cut it out of me and I should prepare for spiritual heart surgery. The Lord God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. So, I understood what that meant. He gave me the heads up that I’m not going to like it and it’s not going to feel good because I was immature and because I didn’t know the purpose and the why behind His discipline and the need for His cutting out. Then He said it again and it felt like a promise, “As deep as I cut you is how deep I’ll heal you” and I began crying, well bawling! The ugly cry and I said, “Okay Lord. I just have to trust you.” As promised, He did the cutting and the healing.
The process was difficult. It meant no longer thinking and responding the way I was taught to protect myself. I could no longer think or process anything outside of the will of God. I yielded and aligned myself with the heart of God, I chose to align myself with Jesus. My journey had to lead me to keep in step with the Spirit of God in full agreement with who’s going to ultimately decide where I spend eternity. That’s not a scare tactic from God, it’s a warning. It’s a gracious heads-up. When we reject a love like death to cover our sins, that’s a hardened heart. You may read this and think. That’s for the unsaved. No there are many ways we can reject Christ, even saved. We know this because Jesus warned of a “Lord, Lord” line (Matthew 7:21-23). It goes to the matters of the heart and its insincerity even though we do things in His name. This is why our heart must be revealed because Christ desires authentic willing faith. That’s the God we serve. To be intentional about progressing into a deeper relationship with Christ we have to be developed and it is very personal.
Embrace God’s Discipline
God’s original plan for His relationship with his people has always been, communion. Relationship. However, there are hard realities we must face as his children. Learning the Kingdom process is going to be hard knocks for the flesh.
For example, we are going to be disciplined. That means it is essential we are intentional about leaning into discipline from God. He said he disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12:5-11) and it’s for our good. In that process being aware of the schemes of the enemy by not allowing discipline to discourage us. That is the first thing the enemy wants to do. If he can make us think that Jesus doesn’t have good intentions for us, he’s won the battle.
However, we must exchange lies for truth every single time (more on that later). Since there is no condemnation for those who believe and who love Jesus, the enemy will attempt to plant those little seeds in our heads. He sets it up, so we’re left thinking, whatever the issue may be, it is a mountain but in comparison to God, it’s a mold hill. God’s intention is not to harm us but to produce something in us, righteousness and a Christlike mind and life. The Word says “Let this mind be in you that is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). God is producing something in each of us. He’s showing us how to be humble like Christ, Philippians 2. He left examples for every relationship, for instance, showing us how to love our enemies, how to treat our frenemies, and how to live this life on this side of Heaven.
Knowledge Needs Balance
Here is another example of a hard truth. We tend to get knowledge and get puffed up, but we must remember that it’s the Holy Spirit who brings the Word to our remembrance. It’s the Spirit that reveals and gives insight. Even though studying the original meaning in it’s Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic is vastly beneficial. Getting to the original text, the original word, and seeing what the original definition means, is great Bible study. Here’s another little nugget he dropped to express the why behind bible study and relationship with Him. When you know Him, as in any relationship, if you know somebody, you’ll start to trust them. If you trust somebody you are going to believe everything they say because you trust them. You know they aren’t lying to you, and you know their intentions are well-meaning. You know their motivations are not to harm you but to help you. If that’s not the relationship you’re building with Jesus, if that’s not the relationship you’re building with God the Father you’re not developing you’re aging. You’re not growing into maturity, real love, or the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4). Understand people on this earth say what love looks like but God already told us what love is. Then he demonstrated it through his Son Jesus.
As you embark on your journey of Christian personal development, remember that God’s discipline is an expression of His love, shaping us into the individuals He created us to be. Embrace these lessons with a grateful heart, knowing that each step brings you closer to His purpose for your life.
You’re Not Alone
This is a process we can’t afford to miss, so I want to be your guide. This is the process that healed me from trauma, depression, suicidal thoughts, and attempts, lack of self-worth, insecurity, you name it. God had to walk me through it all to sincerely move in the direction of authentic faith and relationship with Him that couldn’t be shaken by opinions, circumstances, and situations.
God has personally brought me through darkness and hopelessness. I felt helpless but God had to take me through these storms to show me who He is and who I am because of Him. When we start to mature and grow up into the fullness of Jesus we’re going to learn how to love the way he loves and that’s the whole point. The actual person and image of Christ, is love. He came in love and full humility. He is love itself (1 John 4:7-21) We’re supposed to imitate his humanity and that’s what God is trying to get us to see right now today in such an intense way. He is a consuming fire so when things are revealed, unless he says otherwise, we shouldn’t keep quiet. With that being said, I want to be your Christian personal development guide.
I pray that whoever this is for you lean into it because it’s going to transform your life. It’s going to bring you more joy it’s going to bring you more fulfillment it’s going to bring you closer to Jesus and the joy of your salvation will be just like it was the day God saved you. This is a major factor in why the personal development journey is vital to our faith relationship with God because it is required that we die to ourselves. You have to die to many things emotionally and mentally that hinder your faith and growth. Things that you may think are okay and things you have no idea it was still right under the surface. If we’re not intentional we’re just playing a game of complacent Christians. Here is the telling truth of where our hearts are, if we are Christians for real, we want to be like Jesus and that looks like something. We are responsible for being intentional about making sure that we’re aligned with God’s stamp of approval. That is the mark of progression and growth.
There are many scriptures that show Jesus had to learn and grow as a man in this world. For example, Luke 2:40 and Hebrews 5:7-10 (especially verse 8) illustrate this. To get started, also read Luke 2:52 and Mark 14:36-38.
Take time to self-examine, asking yourself, as Hebrews 5:8 suggests, “What am I learning through what I suffer?” Trials and tribulations are part of life because of sin in the world, but we can learn obedience through them, just as Jesus demonstrated. We can only Kingdom develop by learning to imitate Christ.
I hope and pray you intentionally dive into your personal development in Jesus’ way.
