This past week in our series called Contrast, Roger Blumenthal spoke about the idea of being shaped by the cravings we feed 1 Peter 2:1-3. If you missed his message, you can watch it here. Just the day before Roger spoke, I was listening to a podcast as I was driving to the west side of Tucson. The podcast was a conversation with Erwin McManus. Erwin said something like this – What you long for you become. I spent the rest of my drive and afterward reflecting on this. This is what Peter was writing about when he said “crave pure spiritual milk” so we can grow up in our salvation.
First, what this reminded me of is that we CAN CHANGE! I was watching a TV show the other day and one of the characters said this about himself – “People don’t change.” Most of us believe that deep down. This is the prevailing view of our culture. This is the experience of too many of us – we just don’t seem to change in those deep areas of dysfunction and brokenness. We’ve lost the hope of real change.
But God through Peter, Erwin, and many others remind us that what we crave or long for will, in fact, shape us. That is a spiritual truth found throughout the Bible. That gives us hope that we can change. With that hope, we can actually begin to align ourselves with God to allow real change to happen.
The next question is this: “What do you want or need to change in you?” How do you want to be different from your older self or different from your family or the culture around you? Do you want to get rid of fear and worry and live in peace and contentment? Do you want to get rid of anger and consistently express patience and kindness? Do you want to be free of your addiction? Do you want to stop sabotaging your relationships and in vulnerability connect authentically with people? What do you want to change? Then follows an equally hard question – how? But maybe that’s not exactly the right question.
Maybe the better question is this – “Who do you long to become?” Change doesn’t happen because we become hyper-disciplined and follow a bunch of good rules, like, “I’ll never be angry or worry or whatever…” One of the keys to change is to look at who we long to be like. Have you ever noticed what the Apostle Paul said about this? In 1 Corinthians 4:16 he said: Therefore I urge you to imitate me. Then in 1 Corinthians 11:1 he said: Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. This is so powerful! Who do you long to be like? Who is your example? What is it you crave for your own life that you see in someone else?
Now the fast, easy, and right answer is “Jesus.” But did you notice what Paul did? He said to imitate him or his example AS he followed the example or imitated Jesus. It’s okay to long to be like someone who’s real and who we know and can see and hear and talk to. Throughout my faith life, I’ve longed or craved to be like my mentors, coaches, godly friends, and well known public figures. I long to be like Billy Graham and Henri Nouwen as I observe their character which shaped their lives. I long for the courage and faithfulness of my mentor, Dick. I long for the awe of life and God found in quiet suffering and reflection by my friend Vladimir. And my longing to be like them has caused me to watch and observe them and ask them why or how they do what they do. I listen to them (or read them) more carefully than others. I’ve become more like Jesus as I’ve “hung” around people who are far from perfect but are also further along in being more like Jesus.
Who do you long to become? Ultimately, we want to be like Jesus for sure; but also look for those who are living what you long to become. Label and identify who you long to be. Then crave it. What you crave and long for will shape you. Feed your longing and craving with what and who you really want to become.
© 2023 Pantano Christian Church
All Rights Reserved.
© 2023 Pantano Christian Church | All Rights Reserved.