BECOMING THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF

As this message was coming to me I heard a voice in my spirit saying, “To be or not to be, that is the question.” This was statement was written by William Shakespeare in the play Hamlet. It was spoken by the main character Hamlet. I don’t wish to use any more of his speech except its closeness to my message title. By the way, the marines use this statement as well, “Be the best you can be.” This is my challenge to each of you… become the best you can be.

There is only one way you can become your best and that is by aligning your entire self with the One that made you. I follow Christ so for me everything is within God, through Christ Jesus. Though this might not mean the same to everyone alike, we clearly know that no one made themselves. You don’t have to believe in God to have been made by Him. As a rough example, a car did not make itself but that doesn’t keep it from operating as it was intended to operate. A fish did not hatch itself but that does not keep it from being a fish. Likewise, we did not make ourselves but that doesn’t keep us from operating as we were made. With free will we have the option to go against what is best for us. God gave everyone He created this choice.

In addressing this subject, I only wish to speak to those who believe in God, our divine Creator. Convincing others to believe in something that they have no interest in accepting is futile. Not believing in God currently does not mean that they will never believe in Him. It only means they are not there yet. However, they can never become their best version without going through their maker. It is through God that we live and breathe and have our being. The very lives we are experiencing are living through Him. Should God pull back the breath of life that flows through our mortal bodies we would die. Death frees our soul to return to where it originated. Unbelievers go to a place of darkness, out of the presence of God. However, that fact does not enter the minds of unbelievers because they simply don’t know what they don’t believe. For whatever reason.

After Christ selected His disciples, He sent them out into the area giving them the charge to go and spread the good news about the gospel. He instructed them to share the word with people but if they did not accept it, shake the dust off their sandals and move on. You can find this in the 10^th chapter of Matthew, verses 12 – 14.

^“And when you go into a household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.”

I use this passage only to let you know that if anyone does not accept God, He leaves them to their desires, which are away from His presence. We must likewise leave them If they refuse to accept His precepts or believe in Him. It is not our responsibility to convert anyone. Only God has the power to do so. Yes, you may share the word of God with them but if they have a closed heart and mind, there is no place for them in the body of God. Obviously, if there is no room for God in them they cannot become the best He created them to be. Once we are ready to be made whole and complete by God, that is when He shapes us into our full potential.  We do not accidentally stumble into God’s kingdom.  He that brings us to Him.

With this stated, how do we become the best we can be? Christ tells us to seek first the kingdom of heaven. All things of God will be provided for us through that medium. He made us with a specific purpose and intent. He alone knows what is best for us because our creation came through Him. He knows every single detail about you. He knows what you were intended to become. Though no one knows the thoughts of God or His exact purposes, we know God does all things for the good of those who accept Him and live according to His purposes. Though our thoughts and ways are nowhere near God’s, He does not rely upon us to do His great works. Therefore, to become our best we must submit to His will for us. He is the one that makes us become the best version of ourselves possible.  A car can’t fix itself. A fish cannot hatch itself. We cannot make ourselves holy or righteous. God has the key to our very existence. He alone knows what is best for us.

Think of all things in all of creation. Even though you are a very complex being with trillions of parts, your totality is just one of all things in the entirety of creation. God knows the ALL. On the other hand, we don’t even know ourselves beyond what God reveals to us. As unsearchable as God is to us, He knows us to the most finite of details. Not only here and now, but He knew us before we were born here on earth. We existed within Him before the creation of all things. We are not omnipotent, God IS. We are not perfect, God IS. We have no idea of what is to come, God knows it exactly. Trying to measure equal to God is impossible. However, what is impossible to man is very possible with God.

Although I cannot speak for the entire world, America is a cacophony of lies and deceit. It’s a cesspool of everything that is evil about mankind. It was founded upon the most despicable evil known to mankind. The blood of the devil himself ekes from the carcasses of our dead founders. A nation that claims to be under God with liberty and justice for all has not one morsel of kindship with that statement. There is no truth in it. And yet she wants to hide this shameful history from the world that is clear as trying to hide something in a glass house sitting on the top of the highest mountain exposed to everyone. Their last great white hope is to lie on top of lies hoping it will all go away. Every lie they tell only digs further down into the pits of hell. This is the real America. What can we say factually about the rest of the world?

North America is stated to be one of the latest countries to be discovered. We know that is not true factually, because an entire civilization was already here and thriving for thousands of years before that claim was made. That should tell you all you need to know about the nature of mankind. Since our beginning, we have proven to be unrighteous. Rather than attempting to be our best, we seem to be proving to be otherwise, our lowest.

I say this to state the obvious, we are not the best we can be according to God. His standard is holy. We are not even righteous. This does not mean the entire world is equally unrighteous, but the entire world is sinful, which opposes God’s righteousness. Therefore, to become our best we must reach for the bar He set for us. This is the point I wish to make for those who believe in God. We may attempt to impress each other but we stand naked before God. Every knee shall bow and answer to Him for their entire existence on the final Judgment Day.

It’s important that we know the boundary lines. God says we are either for or against Him. He wants us to love one another and do good things for each other. Although the term good is in the eye of the beholder, those are opinions of mortal mankind. God’s standards are the laws that creation was founded upon. Even our very best behaviors fall so woefully short of God’s standards of righteousness. Here is where the rubber meets the road, to become the best version of yourself it has to be done in conjunction with and at the behest of almighty God, our Creator. Anything less falls far short of the standard Bearer.

Just a word to the wise, even the best this world has to offer is only rubbish to God. That fact alone does not stop Him from lifting us up, washing us off, and continue loving us while molding us into the image of His Son. Remember, He is the image of the invisible God, sent to earth in the form of a human being to be our example. We were created in the image of God, in His likeness to be like Him. The missing part of the equation for many of us is the fact that we are not the ones that make us holy, righteous, or even good. Every piece of good in us comes directly from God. Remember, God, IS good. God IS love. God IS Truth. And furthermore, He is our Heavenly Father. He loves us more than is warranted. To become the best version of yourself you must surrender to Him. He will do it for you. To almighty God be the glory, Selah!