Robin Williams has to be one of the greatest actors/comedians to ever hit the big screen. He brings a light-heartedness and joyful persona to every movie he has ever touched. Growing up, I loved Williams as Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum. The scene below from Night at the Museum captures how we can live as someone we are not:
“What are you made of?”
Sadly, Williams took his life at the age of 63. Throughout his life he struggled with addiction and depression. Yet, when the camera pointed his way, there was always a smile on his face. Someone who spent most of his life making other people smile struggled to make himself smile.
God doesn’t want you to live a life of faking it till you make it. He searches deeper into your motives. The decisions you make are formed because of the past you have. God wants us to move past our past and begin to unravel our true motives.
The first thing you need to know about your motives is that sometimes you don’t have your best interest in mind. Your mind has and will make decisions that hurt you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Something will happen that will be completely your fault and you will have to live with the consequences.
I don’t know your background or what situation you are in, but God is in the business of empowerment. You matter. Your importance is not defined by what others say. You are defined by the love of Christ and who He is. Jesus is saying that you are worth dying for.
If Jesus thinks you are worth dying for, then don’t you think you should try and fight to become the best self you can be?
Your mind may not have your best interest in mind–but your heavenly Father always will. We read this truth in Psalm 37:23-24, “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” We may cause havoc in our own lives but we will not fall. God will always be there to catch us.
So try and do things that you have already ruled out for yourself. Let God surprise you with His power. Try and lose those pounds. Try and write that book. Try and get that promotion. Try and get straight A’s. Try and read a new book. Try and do yoga. Try and forgive that friend. Try and step up as a leader. Try and teach the Gospel. Push forward into the unknown because God has gone ahead of you.
The world will look at your flaws and tell you that you’re not enough. God will look at the cross and tell you that Christ is enough. Nobody will believe in you more than God already does. So, what are you made of? I’m made from the breathe of the living God. The One who has declared me worthy. The One who holds me up with His right hand. The One who was willing to give His son for me. The One who loves me as I am.
God wants to love you as yourself. God doesn’t love the person you want to be. He loves you right now. You can hold onto the fact that you are seared with the Spirit of God. You are made to fulfill God’s purpose. Not with human strength but with Heavenly strength. Robin Williams chose to smile through depression. I want you to know that joy doesn’t always come with a smile on it. True joy is finding peace when the frown is the heaviest.
It is possible, ask Paul, Peter, or John–who all died for Christ with a smile on their face. They understood true joy. They understood what they were made of. They were made of the Spirit of God and so are YOU. Endure this world because the next world is worth dying for. But we have a call worth living for.
How does the Spirit impact your everyday life? Leave a comment and let me know. If you need prayer, please visit the Contact page and let me know so I can pray for you. If you have a message that God wants you to share then go visit the Guest Posting page.
For Your Name is my name and my name for Your Glory.
Forever and Ever, Amen.
nick settles 