How Can My Personality Be Redeemed in the Patterns of the Trinity?
Good Morning Friends,
It is nice to be home. Still I would have to say that going on vacations in the wilderness is healthy despite its difficulty. I just returned from one where I hiked and camped and sailed in places where nature is evident. I have the chigger bites to prove it. Still, I was serenade by insects as the sun set and frogs as the moon rose and birds as the sun began to rise. I saw waves lap a shoreline and storms with lighting that filled the sky. I shared the companionship of my wife hiking and driving in nine states. And each event and location on our journey followed in their appointed place and time as if formed behind patterns of behavior and laws long established. And here I began to see the importance of the patterns of life in a new light that drew me in and focuses me on where I was as well as where we have come from and where we are going. I saw skunks, and deer and ground hogs and squirrels in life and death…I saw relatives and business partners and was drawn with attention and self-awareness to the context of my physical as well as emotional and spiritual reality. In the time away from my regular routine I sensed the power in the unity of the personalities of the trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit even in the brokenness and limits of my own personality. Still as I contemplated this I hoped to hone my intuition and think through decisions better so that my joyful outlook might persists and I might recovery from my failures with more resilience. And it was here on the path that I sensed the importance of my patterns of behavior. And so today I lament my failings as I seek the regeneration of my soul in the writing of this devotional. But I also rejoice in what growth and balance I might still experience and I wonder, How Can My Personality Be Redeemed in the Patterns of the Trinity?
Scripture: 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
Ephesians 1:7 (NRSV)
10Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant* of Christ.
Galatians 1:10 (NRSV)
2Do not be conformed to this world,* but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.*
Romans 12:2 (NRSV)
13And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Hebrews 4:13 (NRSV)
5It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomsoever I please.
Jeremiah 27:5 (NRSV)
Message: There are lots of patterns set forth in the stories in the Bible to help us to better understand the way of God just as there are patterns set forth in nature. Were that in our youth we could imprint them in our personalities as a preference. But it takes a lifetime to come to terms with it all. It seems that in our character and character flaws we learn the way of God. As I walked in nature I came to believe that it is in the understanding, will and power of the Holy Spirit that our feelings our ordered and the influence of God manifested. In nature… the nature of the Trinity… I am sanctified and gradually my own personality patterns become transformed. In the process if I stop trying to please others or be in the limelight or argue a point, or break a rule to get the upper hand I figure I am becoming more resilient…more like Christ as one with the Father and Holy Spirit. It is in the nature of Trinity that I learn to stop boasting and worrying and cease to be insolation. Here in a Holy Trinity I embrace patterns of virtue that fill me with resilience. And as I seek to understand these patterns I also hope to find ways of passing them on to others in ways that transform as they too walk on the path of life. And here with each step I have come to realize that God knows exactly who I am and puts up with me anyway because God uses it all for purposes I cannot fully fathom. But what does become clear is that I do not need to be someone I am not and what does become apparent is that there is more to life than the patterns of numbers and languages and seasons and a chess board with all the angles and impulses of choices. There are also patterns in our personality that seek balance in the pleased presence of God. Friends, know this about nature…. it is here God creates out of our chaotic lives something beautiful…. In the randomness and creative destruction of how we live there are patterns. But when we face a collapse of confidence and even catastrophes, God’s creative hand can and will work in and through us to bring both complexity, coherence and creativity out of confusion. Here, if we allow this relationship to flourish, God brings redemption even to our personalities.
Pray we start with authenticity. Pray we understand the manipulative and destructive power of patterns of sin on our personality. Pray we have authentic love and the virtue of charity imprinted on our personality. Pray we have direction formed in our personality that is healthy. Pray our courage is balanced by creativity, our empathy is balanced by objectivity. Pray our charity is balanced by good cheer, and our autonomy with discipline. Pray we grow naturally in relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Father. Pray our fear driven personality patterns are surrendered to the Lord. Pray we are inspired to develop our personality over our lifetime seeking balance and integrity. Pray the Creator redeems us as well as nature. Pray we have pure motives. Pray we sacrifice our self so that we might invest into opportunities with the highest returns. Pray we lose what we cannot keep in order to gain what we cannot lose. Pray we share the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Pray we each find unity.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 