Tammy On Tuesday ~ “Be Your Way”…Is that such a good idea?

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There are only a few weeks of school left and if you’re a parent you’ve probably noticed your kids are really tempted to check out.  In fact, I received an e-mail a few days ago from the school urging parents to encourage their kids to finish strong.  Honestly, I know my kids would check out if I didn’t stay on top of them.  Several assignments have slipped through the cracks in the past week or so.  But I want more for them.  I don’t want them to be lazy.  They don’t understand it now but sticking to it when you don’t want to builds character and endurance.  This is something I hope to instill in them over time.

I just shared with you a perfect example for the topic of my blog this morning.

While driving the kids to school this morning I heard that Burger King is changing it’s 40 year old slogan from “Have It Your Way” to “Be Your Way”.  The announcer said that Burger King wants to urge people to be whatever and whoever they want.  Be whatever or whoever they want.

Be. Your. Way.

 

WOW.  That’s scary.

 

My way is sometimes lazy.

I can be selfish.

I can be jealous.

Indifferent.

Intolerant.

Unloving.

Proud.

 

In fact, the Bible describes my condition (the condition of all mankind) outside of Christ like this.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 14:12

It goes on to say,

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:6

Not a very good situation if you ask me…but the end of the verse above says, The Lord has laid on him (Christ) the iniquity of us all.

Insert cheering, clapping and shouting here! 

The good news is, I’m not left to my own way!  I’m not stuck!  He came to the rescue!!

The best thing in the world that ever happened for me is when I abandoned MY way for His way.  God made a WAY for me to be set free from selfishness, jealousy, indifference,…in a word, sin.

What’s happened to us?  Is trusting our way really such a good idea?  Where do we draw the line on thinking “being your way” is a good thing?  Aren’t terrorists and tyrants “being their way”?  These are extreme examples, I know.  But, as I think of my friends and acquaintances, I see people just like me – trying to live good lives and do good things but very often not able to overcome their struggles to get there.  I find that attitudes and behaviors well up in me that I wouldn’t want to confess to anyone.  “My way” can be ugly.

The truth is, I once had a void in my heart and life.  I felt stuck.  I wanted more but didn’t know how or where to find it.  The void in my life was shaped just like Jesus – whom God sent as a sacrifice for my sin.  Christ filled that void.  He took on my iniquity.  Imagine my relief when I found out I didn’t have live my way anymore because, frankly, it wasn’t working.

Anything good you see in me, is just a reflection of Him, of His mercy and grace.

How does He go about it?

He tells us in Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Do you really want to “Be Your Way”?

What freedom there is in finding you don’t have to!

I leave you with inspiration from one of my favorite authors, CS Lewis…

“There are no real personalities apart from God. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural’ men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerers have been; how gloriously different are the saints.

But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away ‘blindly’ so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality; but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him…Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

Here’s a slogan we can all adopt…”Be His Way”.