Blog
Sep
22
The Journey: Feeling Schizophrenic?
Sometimes I feel like there are two people living inside of me. There is this part of me that enjoys where I am in life. I feel God’s strength and I know God’s purpose in front of me. And I am confident in his love to sustain me through every situation I will face. Then there are those moments that I feel absolutely weak and unable to deal with anything around me. I feel unsure of where I am or if I should even be here. As I have had to deal with these feels I have come to believe that they are par for the course for the follower of Jesus to feel like this at times.
The Bible talks about the old nature that God is saving us from and the new nature he is birthing inside of us(Ephesians 4:22-24). From this same scripture we see that we are not to be living in the old nature but “putting it away” or leaving it behind. Some have called this old nature our “false self”. I think this is a good way to look at it. Because as believers and followers of Jesus we need to see that our old way of living - habits, reactions, views, pleasures have died with Jesus (Galatians 2:19, 20). This is a spiritual transaction and process that we need to yield ourselves to intirely to be able to commune and experience God more. Paul in the Ephesians scripture above talks about putting on the new self. Those that refer to our old nature as our false self refer to this new nature of Jesus as our “true self”.
We must interact with God through his Spirit dwelling in us to do this by renewing our minds. That’s why contemplative prayer is so important. It allows us to quiet ourselves, meditate upon scripture, listen for his voice and be renewed. Do yourself a favor and make time for this ancient approach of coming into God’s presence.
