Barna Excerpt

The following is a powerful excerpt from a book called Revolution by George Barna (stick with it! The last paragraph is the strongest):

“Human behavior is a series of complex negotiations among our self-image, character, values, sense of purpose, and cultural parameters. Each choice we make is our best attempt to somehow balance the competing interests of those dimensions to optimize an outcome. Who we believe ourselves to be is a major determinant in our ability to be competent in our endeavors.

Your capacity to connect with God intimately and, therefore, to follow through on the challenges posed by the cause of Christ is inextricably bound to your self-image. Simply accepting Christ as Savior and have a respectful but casual relationship with Him do not give birth to a Revolutionary life.

To be a Revolutionary requires understanding the role of every human being within God’s plan. You realize that you are a special creature in His universe—created for the purpose of knowing and loving God, reproducing additional lovers of God, and living in ways that reflect being made in God’s image and for His pleasure. Amazingly, we have been invited to be His partners in developing and advancing His Creation-minority partners, certainly; not so much peers as associates—and as such we can take heart in the fact that we matter to God.

We are valuable because God considers us to be so. We need not earn our stripes—in fact, He has made clear that we cannot earn status in His eyes, except through our relationship with His Son. Our worth stems from our commitment to loving and serving Him. Our relationship with God helps us comprehend the purpose of our life and defines the direction to pursue that will please Him and thus provide us with the greatest fulfillment.

Wrap your mind and heart around this realization: You are a slave to Christ, and ambassador of God, a servant of the King, a soldier in the invisible battle of purity and evil. You will find inner peace only when you know who you truly are. Only at that point can you be authentic. Joy escapes many believers because they don’t fully grasp their identities as Revolutionaries; they labor in vain as halfhearted disciples. The emotional and spiritual ecstasy that Revolutionaries experience is linked to an awareness of their true role in the Kingdom of God. Until you become obsessed with imitating Christ and honoring God, your journey is moving in a dangerous direction. Devoting yourself to the Revolutionary way is a big step toward experiencing God’s pleasure.

Let me also point out that a major reason why most local churches have little influence on the world is that their congregants do not experience this transformation in identity.”

This was powerful for me for a couple of reasons. One, is the simple reminder of who I am and who I am called to be. Second was the reflection on the way that joy and proper understanding of identity are tied together. Do I experience joy as a Christian, or do I find that joy escapes me? And how are joy and my identity in Christ tied together? These have been questions that I have been living with since reading this.