Before We Begin
Becoming is a process.
We do not wake up one morning completely transformed into the person God created us to be. We grow as we walk with Him.
That is why this book follows Abide.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
John 15:4 (KJV)
First, we learn to remain.
Then, as we remain connected to Christ, something begins happening within us.
We begin becoming.
Our hearts change. Our thinking changes. The way we respond begins changing. What we value changes. What we desire changes. Things God has been showing us begin moving from something we know into something we actually live.
And eventually, fruit begins appearing.
That is the journey we are going to walk through together in this book.
Some of what we explore will grow from The Heart of Becoming, where we look inward at what is shaping us, what we value, whose voice we are listening to, and whether we are striving to become something or allowing our lives to be formed through abiding in Christ.
Then we will move into The Fruit of Becoming, where what God has been doing internally begins becoming visible externally.
Love. Joy. Peace. Longsuffering. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Meekness. Temperance.
Not qualities we paste onto ourselves so we can appear more Christlike.
Fruit.
Evidence of what has been growing within us.
And throughout these pages, we are going to ask honest questions together.
What is shaping my heart? What am I allowing to influence me? Where am I still striving? What is God asking me to surrender? How am I responding when life challenges what I say I believe? What is changing? What is growing? And where is God still inviting me deeper?
This is not a book about arriving.
It is about continuing.
Continuing to abide. Continuing to listen. Continuing to surrender. Continuing to obey. Continuing to grow.
Because as we remain with Christ, He continues His work in us.
We are still becoming.
And that is where we begin.