The idea that my Christian responsibility is “to become a better me” is a common but dangerous misconception. Many Christ-followers are trapped in a will-power-fueled self-improvement quest, convinced that this is what disciples are meant to pursue. It’s as if Jesus wants them to become an ever-enhanced version of themselves, doing so “in His name.”
Nothing could be further from the Biblical truth.
Disciples are not persons trying hard to be better models of themselves. Instead, disciples are becoming more and more like Jesus and less and less like themselves. Our goal is summarized by John the Baptist’s statement about Jesus in John 3:30: “He must become greater; I must become less.”
Disciples experience life transformation through “identity exchange.” As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 3.18, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Disciples move past asking God to improve their behavior, instead asking Him to replace their behavior with “what Jesus would do.” They move past asking God to make their thinking better, instead asking God to replace their thinking with His thoughts. They move past asking God to help them point others to Jesus; they ask God to allow people to see Jesus in and through them.
Disciples engage in a process of self-removal rather than self-improvement. They consciously pursue the truth Paul reveals in Colossians 3.3-4: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Our “selves” are not to be reformed; they are to be denied (Luke 9.23), crucified (Galatians 2.20), “put off” (Ephesians 4.22-24), and replaced with Jesus.
The evaluative question is not “am I becoming a better person,” but rather “is Jesus increasingly being seen and revealed in and through me?” As Galatians 3.26-27 declares, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
When people encounter us, may they see Jesus!