What do you want to be when you grow up?
Last week, we began our four-part series on four ethical questions – Do? Be? Go? See? – to help understand complex issues in our world. “What should I do?” is where these issues can often start and end, but our second question, “Who should I be?”, opens up opportunities for further investigation.
If you live in America, you may answer the question “Who are you?” with a description of what you do. “I work in banking.” “I’m a mom.” “I go to school and play soccer afterwards with my friends.” While a human being is more than just a human doing, God made us such that the things we do form us into who we are! Humans are the most adaptable species on the earth for this reason.
Human Being is a Human Doing
Think about how muscles work. In order for gym bros to build up their massive pecs and biceps, they use them a lot in exercises. Active stress on these muscles (with proper nutrition and rest) signals these muscles to break down their cells and multiply to deal with the greater stress. Over time, bodybuilders and construction workers alike will look different because they are different; their bodies change to adapt to their actions. Additionally, greater musculature allows these people to demonstrate their strength through carrying heavy weights. Our actions form us, and they demonstrate who we are.
Ethically speaking, humans have a model for who we ought to be. God made people in His image, and God gave us His express image in His Son, Jesus. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not the model for peak humanity; instead, it is that God will surely form Christians into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
Workouts for Spiritual Being
What are the spiritual exercises to form us into Jesus? Well, thankfully the apostle Paul gives us exercises both to form and to demonstrate Jesus in us. His letter to the Philippians instructs us to “think about” honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy things (Philippians 4:8). The outcome, or fruit, of the Spirit’s work to form us into Jesus is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
A possibly more daring thing for American Christians is this: pray that God would form Jesus in you. Fix your prayer life not on circumstances that need to change (though such prayers are appropriate); fix your mind on Jesus being formed in you and being demonstrated in your life. Hopefully, as we ponder the question of “Who should I be?”, we reply more and more that we want to be like Jesus in the manifold glory of who He is.