Away In A Manager

Much earlier this month, I got to meet and hold a baby less than 24 hours old. It was terrifying. He seemed so small and fragile. His loudest cry barely turned a head because his lungs weren’t yet big enough to wail. He was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but mostly soft and tiny and helpless.

I was incredibly content to look at him. Who knew what would happen if I held him? Suddenly everything in the room and on my person resembled a potentially harmful weapon that could wound this little life in a split second.

This little boy was the son of my coworker Stacy. His name is Zachary and his arrival was much anticipated. Zachary was their first, and Stacy did everything she could to nurture his growth while he slowly developed within her.

She and her husband made every preparation for his entry into the world- touring the hospital, attending childbirth classes, decorating the nursery, looking up baby food recipes, getting his car seat approved, buying onesies, baby blankets, socks and hats. This little man didn’t know how good he had it when he took his first breath out of the womb.

In the midst of Advent season, God had me meet a little boy to help me meditate on the baby boy of the Christmas story. Marveling at little Zachary (and the Christmas card picture still propped up on my kitchen table), I still can’t believe Jesus donned the flesh of a helpless infant. Moreover, he didn’t have the relatively plush life that Zachary does, but rather endured real poverty, rejection, and homelessness as a newborn while embodying joy, hope, love, and peace in their purest forms.

The story of the child in a manager and his life on earth is the ultimate story of humility, for the God of heaven and earth condescended Himself into the form of an infant. The longer I think of the Christ child, the more clearly I see my own pride and sense of entitlement in contrast. Thus, during this Christmas season, I’ve asked Jesus to teach me His humility and am trusting He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself... Philippians 2:5-8

Book Review: The Gift of Being Yourself

Acknowledging from the start that it may seem paradoxical to write a “book promoting self-discovery to people who are seeking to follow a self-sacrificing Christ," David Benner insists that knowing self and knowing God are intimately intertwined.  By knowing our vulnerabilities, our gifts, our pitfalls, and our own personalities, we can better know the God who made us and meet Him as He actively delivers us.   

In The Gift of Being Yourself, Benner doesn’t gloss over the importance of disciplining ourselves to sit at God’s feet so that we might really know Him, not just know about Him.  He encourages readers to meditate on the life of Jesus as described in the Gospels as one way to give shape, color, and flesh to the God we long to know.  He also spurs the reader on to meet God in the events of daily life by taking time to reflect with God on the happenings and subsequent reactions and emotions of the day.

Knowing oneself is clearly described as knowing ourselves in relation to God and also knowing ourselves as we are and as God intends us to be.  Benner affirms that we can’t really know ourselves without knowing simple truths about the way God made us: we are sinners who are deeply loved and we are works in progress with marvelous potential.  As such, we must dig deep to discover the self that is really present, that is the self that we would prefer to ignore.  To truly know oneself, the false selves so quietly crafted must be unmasked, accepted, and then sacrificed to God for transformation.  In this way, Benner hones in on developing an integrity and authenticity to the self that does not naturally exist.  Our natural inclination is to hide and pretend, but to truly experience the “gift of being yourself,” one must first come to terms with the real self that we might not even know until we trod deeper into the journey of self-discovery. This is the redemptive restoration process of the Christian life.

Thoroughly describing both the current situation and the journey ahead, Benner continues by offering practical ideas for how to identify the false self and grow into the true self that is uniquely made and distinctively called by God.  It is evident throughout the book that both the process and outcome of truly knowing self are grounded in the Lord and intended for His glory and our deep joy. 

Benner’s case that the journey of self-discovery and knowing God are co-dependent and inseparable is a believable one.  He supports his arguments with compelling biblical texts along with keen observations of the human psyche and development. I found the premise refreshing, especially as our sinful identity is increasingly emphasized while our dual identity as God’s image bearers is (albeit fractured images) is more and more so ignored.  We are indeed “God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10).  Benner captures both identities quite well in this work and inspired me to know my true self in Christ.  

Around 100 pages, this is a simple yet centering read; especially relevant as we quickly arrive at the time of year in which we reflect on who we are and who we are becoming.  Get it!