Going Bald and the Mess That is Me

My twenty-fourth birthday came and went. I don't know if I can actually say that I am fully grown, because so much of my life has been spent being a kid. However, as I look in the mirror these days, I see a vastly different picture than I did ten years ago. The hair that I once had is quickly disappearing; the skin on my face that folds when I smile has left a permanent indention; and I am resigned to the fact that I will never have a six-pack. As with many other birthdays, I spent this one contemplating the shape that I have taken over these twenty-four years, and it seems apparent to me now that character is more passive than active. In other words, I am less what I have become, and more what has become me.

We are shaped by the uncontrollable. I've seen children from broken homes put up tough exteriors in order to escape their own emotions; men that come from motherless homes, be insensitive to their spouses; women that come from fatherless homes, do everything they can to gain favor from men. I'm not making the assumption that these cases are holistic, but all of our personalities seem to be a response to something in our past. 

This makes the call to faith much different. The apostle Paul uses the term, "adopted," to describe Christians. It's apparent that the term is deeper than being picked out of a group of orphans. Rather, it places on the adopted, a responsibility of action. We must spend our efforts to conform our character to that of our adopted father, rather than our earthly one. The process of salvation is more than believing, but responding to that salvation by rejecting the earthly imprint left on us by the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The result is a character that can best be described as, "other-worldly." At the end of my life, I hope that others can say, in honesty, that I always responded with kindness, acted in love, and treated others with compassion. This is the character of Christ, and the imprint that I want to become me.