The Best Version of You Is Jesus

    Self-evaluations can be helpful in assessing your strengths, weaknesses, your talents and gifts. Paul Tripp, however, points out that the standard of self-evaluation misses the core of your potential as a Christian. If Jesus did an assessment of gifts and talents, would he have selected the twelve disciples (let alone Judas!)? After Peter denied him three times, would Jesus have evaluated Peter and deemed him unqualified as an apostle? Would Paul, who persecuted the early church Christians, have become a missionary to the Gentiles?

    God often called people who felt unprepared and yet were successful in accomplishing what God called them to do. Despite the fact that they were weak, ordinary and could not boast of any talent, the disciples were able to step forward and do extraordinary works as they preached the gospel and ministered to the church.

    So what to do then with our potential? What to do with our talents and gifts? It's important to realize that the gospel, first and foremost, defines who you are as a Christian. Paul says,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

-Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

A Christian is one that has died to self but made alive in Jesus Christ. The self is sinful, weak, undone, proud, and ill-tempered and is crucified with Christ on the cross. The Christian now lives and says, "Not I, but Christ." Think about this: the one who is the image of the invisible God, the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, the one who holds creation together in himself, the Savior, Redeemer, the very God of the very God lives in you! One book describes it like this,

"Jesus Christ is like a vast ocean. He is too immense to fully explore, and too rich to fathom. You are like a bottle. The wonder of the gospel is that the bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle." 

-Jesus Manifesto

Amazing! Therefore the Christian lives by faith in Jesus Christ. Those who see, hear, and know you will see, hear and know Jesus. Your life manifests Jesus' presence. Paul Tripp says,

It is not enough for Paul to say that the death of Christ made him new. He says that when he died, the old Paul was not replaced with a new and improved version of Paul, but with Christ himself! He's not simply saying that the new Paul is better at controlling the sin in his heart. He is saying that where sin once controlled, Christ now rules! Our hearts, once under the dominion of sin, are now the dwelling place of Christ, the ultimate source of righteousness, wisdom, power, and love.

- Paul Tripp in How People Change

In short, the best version of you is none other than Jesus! That's the gospel of Christian potential.

"We no longer live based on our assessment of what we possess in strength, character, wisdom (from family, education, and experience). We base our lives on the fact that because Jesus lives in us, we can do what is right in desire, thought, word, and action, no matter what specific blessings or sufferings we face."

- Paul Tripp in How People Change

This is why God can use those who are simple and ordinary by the world's standards to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1: 26-31). That is why he can use people with no extraordinary talents nor gifts because it is Jesus Christ in them who gives them the strength to do all things that they are called to do.

    Your life in Jesus Christ defines your potential. The question now is what will your life be if you measure your potential based on this? How would it shape your ambitions and your goals? How does the reality of Jesus living in you determine your agenda? How would success look like as a result? Can you honestly say, "Not I, but Christ"?

    Be encouraged by this : our potential in Jesus Christ is not hindered by our weaknesses nor our failures. Our potential in Jesus is not based on what we can do for him, but on what he can do through us.