Who I Am – 4

Who I Am – 4

Subject – The Freedom in Being Yourself

by Rick Welborne

Psalm 139:13-18 (NLT) 

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 

16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 

18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! 

Last week:

1. As you consider God’s destiny for you have you ever felt like a captive?

Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV) 

18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  

2. As you consider God’s destiny for you...you must recognize that He not only wanted to save you but give you a new life.

Batterson: He doesn’t just set us free from who we were.  He sets us free to become who we were meant to be.  Salvation is not the end goal. Salvation is a new beginning.

Romans 8:28-29 (NIV) 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

3. As we consider God’s destiny for us we tend to focus on what and where.

Batterson: Those two destinies may seem to be at odds with each other, but they are anything but. To become like Christ is to become unlike anyone else. He sets us free from whom we’re not, so we can become who He destined us to be.

–Today, again I want to challenge you to be who God created you to be.

1. Because you are God’s child your heredity and destiny are from Him.

 –All of you astute students, like myself, will remember from Biology class that you have 46 chromosomes. 23 from your father and 23 from your mother. Biology class…light bulbs.

–It is that unique combination of chromosomes that determines the color of your eyes to the number of hairs on your head...in some cases both of them.

–So what am I saying...your identity is part heredity. When you have been in the same church as long as I have you see how much children look and act like their parents...scary!

–You do not have to look very far...my pretty wife and daughter are perfect examples.

–Everyone else in my family...blond hair blue eyes...dad brown hair green eyes...Stephanie’s eyes began to change...she said oh no! Thanks!

–Here is some wonderful news for you today spiritually...the image of God is both your heredity and your destiny.

–The mathematical probability that you would get the exact 23 chromosomes you got from your mother is 1 in 10 million. But the same is true about the 23 chromosomes you received from your father.

–So if you multiply these two together the probability would be 1 in 100 trillion. But you have to factor in that your parent’s chromosome history had the same probability, and their parents, and their parents’ parents.

So what is my point...there is just no way to calculate how unique you are...that’s exciting…you are one of a kind. 

Psalm 139:13-14 (NLT) 

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 

2. Why is it that we all start out as “one of a kind original” but too many of us end up as carbon copies of someone else.

–Instead of celebrating our uniqueness, and the uniqueness of others, we are too often threatened by it.

–I felt like the Lord wanted me to share this at this point because someone may be right in the middle of this.

–After 42 years of ministry and from just studying people...when you allow yourself to hate and get bitter toward people you are supposed to love and you choose to not forgive them...you begin to take on the traits in them you hate so much. You become them.

James 3:13-18 (NLT) 

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 

14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 

15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 

16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 

17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 

18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. 

–I had a sibling who hated all the evil traits in my dad and instead of being an original...that sibling became just like him...even after dad was saved and transformed...this person still was bitter and hateful. 

–This sibling became bitter and hateful as is to this day...I chose to forgive my dad even before he was changed by God and it freed me to be who God called me to be.

1 Peter 4:8-9 (NKJV) 

8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." 

9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 

–I continue to love, forgive, and pray for my family longing for the day of their salvation and our reconciliation …In the mean time I am free from any bondage to them because of God’s call on me.

Batterson: We forfeit our uniqueness because we want to fit in.  Instead of daring to be different, we sacrifice our soul print on the altar of conformity.

3. If we will have God’s uniqueness for us, and if we will be who we are, we must be willing to take Saul’s armor off.

–What? There comes a point in every person’s life when they realize that imitating someone else is detrimental ...we must take ourselves for who we are for better or for worse.

–I think this is what David did when he prepared to fight Goliath. His meeting with King Saul:

1 Samuel 17:38-40 (NKJV) 

38 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 

39 David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off. 

40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 

–Arming for war was a major ritual in David’s day...armor was an extension of the warrior’s character...David could have gone into battle like a king...tempting!

 –Thank goodness David said I cannot go into battle with this armor...I have not tested them and they definitely do not fit...Saul was head and shoulders taller.

–What would have happened to David if he had gone out to meet Goliath on Goliath’s terms? Fully armored and fully armed.

–I believe David would have lost because he was not used to being a swordsman. He probably had never touched or trained with a sword at all at this point in his life. 

–Listen...David was a shepherd...for better or for worse...That was who he was and what God had destined him to be up to that point in his life.

–The sword to him was probably more of a threat to David than it was to Goliath...but because he was a shepherd he was deadly with a slingshot.

–David was at a cross road in his life...like so many of us...He had to make a choice...This choice would determine his destiny. Be myself or try to be someone else.

–He could go into battle as Saul, with Saul’s armor, wield Saul’s sword, hold Saul’s shield or he could go into battle as himself...a shepherd with a slingshot.

–David decided not to go into the battle as Saul for a very good reason...He was not Saul...He decided to be David...to be who he was.

–We are all faced with the same decision...there comes a point in all of our lives where we need the courage to take off Saul’s armor or whoever’s armor you have put on.

–It is the rarest form of courage...it is the courage to be yourself. That is what I will give account to God for...being who God called me to be.

Romans 14:12 (NKJV) 

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 

–Each of us will have to answer this question when our life is over...Did you do what you were supposed to do?  Were you who God meant you to be?

–Why do composers write music, why do athletes compete, why do politicians run for office, why do entrepreneurs start businesses, why do teachers teach?

–There are a lot of answers to these questions but the right answer is they do it to give expression to something deep in their souls...that something is God’s soul print in them. 

–We find fulfillment in doing what we were originally designed and destined to do by God. The business you start, your teaching, your music is an expression and a reflection of your soul print. 

–Our failure to give expression to our soul prints (to be who we are supposed to be) will result in our greatest regrets.  

--What God has destined you to be you must be who you are or you will be miserable. It is the only way to be true to yourself, and more important, true to God.

 Soren Kierkegaard: The deepest form of despair is to be another than oneself.

Batterson: At the end of the day, God isn’t going to ask, “Why weren’t you more like Billy Graham or Mother Teresa?” He won’t even ask, “Why weren’t you more like David?” God is going to ask, “Why weren’t you more like you?”

I love My Church – 5

I love My Church – 5

Subject – The Community of the Mat

by Rick Welborne

Luke 5:18-26 (NLT2)
¹⁸  Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,
¹⁹  but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
²⁰  Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
²¹  But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
²²  Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?
²³  Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?
²⁴  So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
²⁵  And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.
²⁶  Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” 

--Today we continue our series…I love My Church. I hope we are all getting a better understanding of how valuable it is to be in community. We truly need each other and we need you to be here.

--One of the great stories in the Bible about community involves a paralyzed man and his friends who brought him to Jesus. We all need friends.

Yogi Berra – If you don’t go to someone’s funeral, they won’t go to yours.

--It is so difficult for us to imagine how difficult life was for this paralyzed man, especially being a paralytic in the ancient world. His whole life was lived on a mat 3 feet wide and 6 feet long.

--Someone had to feed him, carry him, clothe him, roll him over so he wouldn’t get bed sores, clean him when he soiled himself. He will never know the sense of independence we prize so much.

--Nothing can be done for him medically—no surgeries, no rehab programs, no treatment centers. Because he has no way of contributing to society…he will be a beggar laid beside the road depending on mercy of others.

--Can you imagine how he would dream of having a healthy body. He walks, he runs, does good work, gets married, and plays with his children.

--He wakes up still staring at the ceiling he has seen a thousand times, in a room he can never walk out of, and looks at his broken body that holds him prisoner. His mat is his world.

--He has no money, no job, no influence, no family we know of, and seemly not much of a future. His “as is” tag is three feet wide and six feet long. So what does he have going for himself?

--He has friends…he has amazing friends. This is the killer small group of all time. This whole story takes place because of his friends. 

--Without his friends he never makes it to Jesus, never gets healed, and never gets forgiven. All this happened because years ago he decided to have friends. Choosing to be in community.

--Even today people with disabilities wrestle with attitudes of so called ‘normal people’ who do not know how to respond, who are maybe unkind, and may even look away to avoid any connection.

--The ancient world could be even harsher. The Greeks regularly disposed of newborn infants with physical abnormalities. In Rome during the fifth century there was a statute on the books. Quickly kill a deformed child.

Aristotle – Let there be a law that no deformed child shall be raised. 

--Even in Israel there was a belief that people who were in these situations brought it upon themselves. John 9, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Very judgmental. 

--Today I want us to look at the community of the mat…this paralyzed man and his friends:

1. They chose to become friends.

--Here we see a little band of men who refuse to let any obstacle stop them from accomplishing their goal. It was no accident these guys were friends. 

--In the face of formidable obstacles---social stigma, inconvenience, financial pressure, a high cost of time and energy---they chose to become friends. People rarely drift into deep community.

Psychologist Alan McGinnis – Assign top priority to your relationships. Ironically, we tend to devote massive amounts of time to making money, running errands, and succeeding at our jobs, but we neglect giving our most valued possession ---time---to the experience we were created for: community. 

--One of the most countercultural statements in Scriptures of the early church. In speaking of people’s oneness of heart and mind, the writer notes in Acts…They met together daily. 

--Catch this…they worshiped together, they ate together, they talked together, they prayed together---on a daily basis. No wonder they drew so close together in community. 

--We try to create 1^st Century community on a 21^st century timetable and it does not work. Maybe the biggest barrier to truly connecting is the pace of our lives. 

--How often do we hear from people…Let’s get together when everything slows down. Let’s do lunch in a few weeks when I am not so busy. In two weeks we are just as busy as we are now.

John Ortberg – The requirement for true community is chunks of unhurried time. If you think you can fit deep community into the cracks of an overloaded schedule---think again. Wise people do not try to micro-wave friendship, parenting, or marriage. You can’t do community in a hurry. 

--Think about it…you cannot listen in a hurry, you can’t mourn in a hurry with those who mourn, or rejoice in a hurry with those who rejoice. 

--Many people lack great friends for the simple reason that they have never made pursuing community a high priority. You can’t carry someone’s mat in a hurry. 

--Yes, it takes time to clean the house, it takes time to go to Connect Group or church, it takes time to make the effort to worship together instead of figuring out how we can pull apart. 

2. Everyone has a mat. 

--Think about what the paralyzed man has to go through in order to be friends with this group of men. I am sure he wrestled with how much he had to depend on these guys for anything and for everything.

--He had to be jealous of their independence or at least he had given thought that after they had spent time together, he was the only one who could not walk home.

--More than likely, deep in his heart he wished he could trade places with any of his friends. He wondered daily what these men thought about him and his disability. Am I a burden to them.

--It is a vulnerable thing to have someone carry your mat. When they carry your mat, they see you in your weakness and they might hurt you if they drop you.

Otberg – There is this gift between these friends: trusting vulnerability and dependable faithfulness. This mat, which according to society should have created a gulf between him and them, instead became an opportunity for servanthood and acceptance. This group becomes the Fellowship of the Mat. 

--Wherever human beings love and accept and serve each other in the face of weakness and need, there is the Fellowship of the Mat. Here is a truth we must all understand…we all have a mat. 

--This mat stands as a picture of human brokenness and imperfection. It is what is “not normal” about me. It is the little “as is” tag that we most desire to hide. 

--As a community…it is only when we allow others to see our mat, when we give and receive help with each other, that healing becomes possible. 

--Every effective Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is a Fellowship of the Mat but so are healthy families, connect groups, and churches because everyone has a mat.

--Anger can be your mat, fear can be your mat, inability to trust can be your mat or maybe you always need to be in control is your mat. Maybe there is a dark secret that is your mat. A sense of failure or loneliness. 

--So many Christian communities are filled with people who are really into mat management. They pretend they don’t have a mat. They appear to have it all together but they know and God knows what their mat is.

--They have the gift of identifying everyone else’s mat but never reveal their own. Their primary goal is to hide their brokenness from everyone’s eyes. You may get good at hiding your mat.

--You may be able to convince everyone else of your strength and your competence but you will never be able to live in community that way. Listen to the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV)
⁷  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
⁸  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
⁹  And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
¹⁰  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. You must allow someone to carry your mat.

--Who carries your mat sometimes? Who do you show your weakness and struggles to? Who do you ask to pray for you? Who do you let see your brokenness in this community? 

Jean Vanier – There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the foundation of community than perfection. 

--If you want a deep friendship, you can’t always be the strong one. You will sometimes have to let someone else carry your mat. 

--That is what happens with this man in this Bible story. This small group of people becomes friends. They become a community. They have to be formidable and intentional to be friends.

--Because one of the men’s weakness is so obvious and so visible, they all become more honest about their mats. This community becomes the Fellowship of the Mat.

John 15:13 & 17 (NKJV)
¹³  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
¹⁷  These things I command you, that you love one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
²⁴  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
²⁵  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Who I Am - 3

Who I Am - 3

Subject: Seeing that We Have Two Destinies

by Rick Welborne

Psalm 139:13-18 (NLT) 

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 

16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 

18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! 

First Week:

1. There has never been and never will be anyone else like you!

2. No one can worship God like you or for you!

3. To find out who you are supposed to be you will have to dig deep.

Second Week:

1. We must recognize those defining moments which reveal our destinies.

2. We must understand what our soul print is.

3. We must believe that we were conceived by God before we were conceived by our parents.

–Michelangelo’s masterpiece David is enshrined at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy. Thousands wait every day to look at this beautiful work.

–Many fail to notice all the unfinished sculptures that line the corridor on the way to see David. Like petrified prisoners whose forms are identifiable...a hand here, a torso there, a leg, or maybe an unfinished head.

–These statues were intended to adorn the tomb of Pope Julius II but were never finished.

–It is almost as these sculptures are trying to break free and become what they were intended to be but they are stuck in stone...Michelangelo calls them captives.

–Today I want to talk to you about our two destinies:

1. As you consider God’s destiny for you sometimes can feel like a captive. 

–You do not seem to be able to break free from the habits that hold you back or hold you down. Prescription drugs, sexual addictions, and alcohol are so rampant even in church. Addictions to relationships.

--Addictions to relationships usually happen when lines are crossed and bad choices are made.

–Maybe a dream God conceived in your spirit years ago has not taken shape the way you wanted it to. You know who you want to be, what you want to do, and where you want to go, but you can’t seem to get there. 

–I have no idea where you are stuck or how long you have been there but I do know that God wants to finish the work that He started in you.

Philippians 1:6 (NLT2)
⁶  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. 

–In Jesus very first sermon Jesus stated with certainty what His mission would be...To set the captives free.

Luke 4:18‑19 (NKJV) 

18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  

–We tend to look at this promise of the captives being set free as the judge giving us a Get Out of Jail Free card but it is so much more than that. 

–We should look at this as God releasing us to our dual destiny.

Key: Jesus did not die just to get us off the hook. He also died to resurrect the person we were destined to be before sin distorted the image of God in us.

2. As you consider God’s destiny for you...you must recognize that He not only wanted to save you but give you a new life.

–Jesus does not just free us spiritually...He also sets us free emotionally, relationally, and intellectually. We are held captive by so many things and in so many ways.

–We are captive by our imperfections and by our insecurities. We are held captive by our guilt and fear.  We are held captive by unrealistic expectations and lies and mistakes.

–When Tricia and I met, dated, and eventually married I was an insecure mess...I was saved but I was all messed up emotionally...jealous, angry, and insecurity.

–I brought so much into the relationship that was damaging...so much dysfunction from home, bad relationships, and a basic distrust of anyone. Of everyone.

–I was saved but I needed a new life...I needed to be set free...When we bring this kind of baggage into a relationship, we push the person further and further away. We feel we cannot stop!

–The insecure person really believes they are showing the person they are married to or dating their true love by their jealousy, control, and anger...only pushing them away. Damaging the relationship.

–Driving between Lakeland and Bartow listening to James Dobson...Emotions: Can You Trust Them...Holy Spirit changed my life that day. Made a U-turn and went to my pastor for prayer and agreement.

--That was definitely one of those defining moments that we talked about last week. So glad I did not miss the work God wanted to do in me that day.

Batterson: He doesn’t just set us free from who we were. He sets us free to become who we were meant to be.  Salvation is not the end goal. Salvation is a new beginning.

–We are saved...we are being saved...we will be saved.

1 Peter 1:3‑9 (NLT) 

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 

4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 

5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. 

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 

7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 

8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 

9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. 

–When we give our lives to Christ, God goes to work in us and with us. He begins to use our circumstances, no matter how bad those circumstances may be, to chisel us into His image.

Romans 8:28‑32 (NIV) 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all‑‑how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

3. As we consider God’s destiny for us we tend to focus on what and where. God focuses on what we are becoming.

–What and where are secondary issues as far as God is concerned...His primary concern is who you are becoming...being is better than doing. Widow in our church. I can’t do much!

–Please keep in mind that it has nothing to do with your circumstances...It has to do with the character of Christ being formed within you. 

Key – What happens in you is more important that what happens to you.

Our destination or goal should be, that we look, act, feel, talk, dream, and love like Jesus. 

Philippians 2:3-5 (NLT2)
³  Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
⁴  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
⁵  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 

Batterson: The end goal is not a revelation of who you are. The end goal is a revelation of Who God is.  After all, you will not find yourself until you find God. The only way to discover who you are is to discover Who God is, because you are made in His image.

–You see...you have two destinies...One destiny is just like everyone else’s (it is universal) and that is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

–To follow Christ is to become like Him and that is our chief objective...to be like Jesus!

To be like Him in every way.

Philippians 3:8‑14 (NKJV) 

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 

11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 

13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 

14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

–I want to know Him...I want to be like Him...I want to know the power of His resurrection...I want to experience the fellowship of His suffering...I want to be conformed to His death...I want to die to my life and live what He has destined for me.

–My other destiny is unique to anyone else’s destiny...to be unlike anyone else... 

Batterson: Those two destinies may seem to be at odds with each other, but they are anything but. To become like Christ is to become unlike anyone else. He sets us free from whom we’re not, so we can become who He destined us to be.