I remember an elementary school assignment which required us students to pick a person in our life and write as many descriptive words as we could about the person we chose. I picked my dad. I remember, very vividly, sitting down with my mom and filling the front and back of the paper with descriptive terms. I wrote "dad", "husband", "drummer", "deacon", and "fireman", among many other words. It was an interesting exercise to think about all the titles, roles, and relationships that make a man who he is, like tiny puzzle pieces that join together to form a picture of a man.
Think through this exercise with yourself as the subject. You would probably see puzzle pieces with words like "father" or "mother"; "son" or "daughter"; "husband" or "wife". There would be other descriptors such as "friend", "cousin", "food lover", or "hunter". Think of the other pieces that would describe your career, your hobbies, etc. If you are a Christian, part of your puzzle would likely include words like "Saved", "Born Again", or "Child of God". And herein lies the problem.
Too many church-goers in the world today have included their church attendance and their religious beliefs as mere pieces of their life pie. Truth is, following Jesus was never intended to be something we simply added to our life. We're not talking about woodworking or gardening, we're talking about being born again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". In Mark 8:34, Jesus said "whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me".
For most of my life, being a "believer" was just one way to describe me. In November of 2016 I decided that had to change. I can now see through the fog of this mentality and it's frightening, because I see it in practice everywhere.
You see, being born again isn't about adding another piece to your puzzle, it's about the big picture - all the pieces joined together - looking like Jesus. Romans 8:29 says it perfectly: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren".
A puzzle of a majestic snowy mountain summit includes many beautiful colors, but a bright orange piece wouldn't fit the picture. A puzzle piece from an alpine forest scene wouldn't mesh with a puzzle of a beautiful blue ocean crashing into a white sand beach. You know what else doesn't go together? Ungodly lifestyles with an image of Jesus. Sinful habits with an image of Jesus. Idols with an image of Jesus.
Don't let Christianity be a part of who you are. It must be the whole of what you are; anything less is an illegitimate facade. The totality of your life's puzzle pieces must look like Christ and any puzzle piece that doesn't mesh with His likeness has to go. Otherwise, you have a skewed picture of Christ...and a skewed eternity. It's not that puzzling.
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