Is Being Our Authentic Selves An Act of Worship?

My sweet friend, allow me to muse a bit....

I have been thinking about "authentic self"--that deep down person you were formed to be, the very best of you that the Lord put in you.

I have been thinking of how amazing the Lord is and how He made man in His image and how we Christians have the Holy Spirit with us constantly.  He is so much greater than we can imagine and so often we limit Him!

I have read several articles, such as  this one from Bonnie Gray (and a few others she wrote--they are on the sidebar of that page and are excellent).  I have been thinking about how much we yearn to be more than we are, for life to have more meaning than it often does.

It seems that we deny the wrong part of ourselves:  we deny whom the Lord made us, but embrace our baser, coarser selves; instead of denying our selfishness and meanness and snarkiness and embracing our purer, holier selves.

Now, I am not talking about just wandering about our house singing hymns and genuflecting :)  I am talking about making our lives holy sacrifices by getting in touch with the talents, abilities, traits, etc that the Lord put into each of us.  I don't know about you, but when I am in that place of "fearfully and wonderfully made", I find that my desire to sin just floats away. 
I do not want to overeat--I want to feast on the miracle of Creation that I am and do not need to hide my pain or sorrow or anger with food--there is no pain or anger or sorrow! 
I do not compare myself to others--I am too busy delighting in what the Lord has done! 
I do not have anxiety--I have eternity in my hands to play with like weaving cotton candy through my fingers....what on earth do I have to be anxious about? 
I do not nurse grudges--I mean, who has time to lick old wounds when dancing with the Lord's creation?
I do not feel pride in myself because my attention is on the Lord and His wonder and creation and that little bit of His power that He has placed in me!

I think that is why I am so drawn to people displaying their talents, their abilities, their creativity.  I find as much delight in watching Jarrod Radnich play Pirates of the Caribbean as I do watching TWS close his eyes and move his hands in the air as he mentally "builds" a pipe system and then stand in amazement of the miracle I witness when he opens his eyes and can flawlessly say exactly how many 45 degree elbows, 90 degree elbows, straight lengths, couplings, and whatever else goes into that project.

I love to see people in a state of transcendence as they touch eternity with their art, with their writing, with their music, with their counseling, with their gardening, with their sewing or baking or dog training.

It seems, with as much pleasure that we get from these moments in ourselves, that it would seem selfish or a waste of time, that to be godly we have to be joyless and dull.

However, I am, finally, starting to realize that when I actively work my best parts of me for the glory of God, that perhaps that is not selfish at all, but perhaps the most excellent form of sacrifice (sacrificing glorification of my self) and a most wonderful type of worship.

If we use our talents to make others feel badly or to buoy ourselves so that we feel superior or if we use them for the pursuits that are against the Word, then we are sinning, of course. 

However, when we use our talents to the glory of God, delighting in His wonderful work IN US, I think that must be pleasing to Him. 


One more thought:  We often delight in His majesty in other people or other things, but we need to delight in His wonderful work IN US.  If we run ourselves down, our best part of ourselves that the Lord created, that is not holy.  Recognizing our sins and weaknesses and failures for repentance and godly sorrow IS what we need to do, but when we despise our "selves", made new in Christ, we are despising what the Lord created!

So let's you and I think, dear one, about how we can dig through the mess that the world has piled upon us and find and dust off those abilities that He gave us, our authentic selves, so that we may glorify Him and enjoy our personal corner of creation :)