My heart those past weeks has been burning for the knowledge of Christ. I believe we can’t build our christian foundation on experiences, prophetic words or even community but only on the word of God and on experiencing him as a person. This is what I hope I will be able to communicate to you. 

I have been asked to preach at the sunday service of a church during my Mission Trip to Long Beach (CA). 

God touched me through the new Disney movie of the Beauty and the Beast. In case you do not remember, it is the story of a young selfish prince who is cursed by a mysterious enchantress to have the appearance of a monstrous beast. His only hope is to earn the love of a woman in return in order to redeem himself. Years later, his chance shows itself when a girl named Belle become his prisoner. 

I would like to share with you a particular scene taking place at the end of the story and tell you about the comparisons God gave me between this scene and our relationship with Jesus. At this point of the story, the Beast believes that Belle will never come back to him. The villagers already broke into his castle, coming to kill him. Gaston an unscrupulous hunter has found him and start to threaten his life but the Beast is barely resisting. When suddenly he catch sight of Belle, back for him. Gaston is swearing at him what an awful monster he is when the Beast rises and shouts: I AM NOT A BEAST!!!t, throwing Gaston in the void. 

 

He was still a beast but when he realized he was loved, he believed in his true identity, and it changed everything. 

Likewise, we are made for love, we can't enter into our true self without the perfect affection of the God of the universe.

Also, as Belle loved the Beast before he became a prince again, Jesus choose to give his life for us when we were still sinners. No one could take his life if he hadn't decided to lay it down, just as The Beast couldn’t make Belle love him.

Moreover, in each one of us, the prince - the being God created in his image before the foundation of the world, made alive when we accepted Christ as our savior -, is waiting to take over our "bestial appearance" (our soul and body). We just need to surrender to love, that is Christ.

Indeed, it is not about trying to change our behaviors but knowing who we are. It was not about the Beast trying to act like a prince (having a castle and a crown doesn't make of you a prince) because he had to be loved for his royalty to be revealed. So we don't become who we are by working on our behaviors, our behaviors and our circumstances are transformed when our identity in Jesus becomes a reality.

It means that we have to stop imagining ourselves looking Jesus through a shop window, dreaming to buy his healing tunique or his ring of peace. We can't shop the attribute of the kingdom like it is items we have to possess, because they are all in us. The truth is that it is when we look ourselves in the mirror that we see Jesus. No matter what we think, we are already like him. So being one with God  (1 Cor 6:17) is stopping to believe that we can incorporate the Gospel into our lives. Jesus is not living in us to bless us, to give us favor, power or love because he already did it at the Cross. 

So let's stop working from the outside-in (trying to receive more of the love of God, trying to love ourselves better) but from the inside-out, starting by realizing that we are dead to ourselves and that Jesus is alive.

 

But from my own experience, I have found that we quickly fall into performance and operate out of our self-righteousness cause it is so easy to distance ourselves from the undeserved grace of the Lord. Somehow, we still believe that we have something to lose, something to bring... But working on our sanctification without the Spirit of God leads to frustration, disappointment, bitterness and striving. 

Self-righteousness is trying to apply our own perfection to our lives instead of the perfection of God. Perfectionism in Greek means «without blemish» but in Hebrew it means «to function as designed». I don't like the Greek meaning cause it make me think of the way I am perfectionist, wanting to control everything so it can be done "my way", making it all about me. So we have to stop trying to present ourselves right before God and live the way he intended us to. Paul put it this way: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own (Philippians 3:12).

It is then all about knowing Jesus. And to know him is to love him.

 

My question is then how can we know Jesus more and step into our identity and destiny without living out of our own strengths? I think it comes through submission and obedience to God. I am not talking about sacrificing all and everything but about keeping a tender heart in every circumstances before the Lord. 

Psalm 51:16-17 (Passion Translation) illustrates this thought: For the source of your pleasure is not in my performance or the sacrifices I might offer to you. The fountain of your pleasure is found in the sacrifice of my shattered heart before you (or also broken spirit and broken and contrite heart in other translations).

Surrender is not something that can be taught, because as soon as we try to surrender, it is not called surrender anymore. It is an abandon of the heart that is required of us the more we want to follow Jesus. Ans when we give up our own will, it compels us to answer to the call of God. Indeed, believing in what Jesus says about us gives us the power and the desire to take action on his word. For example, in 1 Peter 2:9, it is said: «But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may declare the goodness of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.» You are… That you may…

So God gives us his kingdom and covers us in abundant love so that we can reflect God's attributes to the world.

 

To finish up, one of the way I keep my heart tender before God is by setting my mind on things above through his words. I let verses sink deep into me so that I can put my faith not in what I see but on the things of the Spirit. There are beautiful declarations about our identity and destiny that we can take a hold onto: As He is, so we are in this world (1 John 4:17).  

 

Let's be people that are moved by the love of Jesus. That it would give us a hunger for his presence, satisfied and expended by reading his words, making us believe that nothing is impossible. 

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