God Is Not Your Life Coach

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."  Romans 12:1

I am often bewildered and confounded by the pictures and perceptions we as believers are offered of our Holy God by a host of popular leaders in our "relevant" and "cool" christian circles.  Now don't get me wrong.  I'm all for being culturally current and authentic in our conversations with each other and especially to those without Christ.  If we come across as stale and backward we are going to defeat our purpose of reflecting Jesus for who He really is.  However, understanding that Jesus is the "God-Man" (all God and all man) shouldn't we take extra care not to diminish His holiness by trying to make Him who we'd like Him to be rather than who He really is?

For certain, in John 15:15 Jesus said "...I have called you friends."  But He didn't say "I have called you buddies".  Get what I mean?  Can we become too familiar in the way we look at and even address the Lover of our Souls?  More importantly, can we get the misguided idea that He is somehow here to help us reach our goals?  I think we can.

In the last decade or so, the term "Life Coach" has become quite popular.  Sadly, this term fits very well in describing how we operate in many of our churches and small and large gatherings.   From my understanding, a Life Coach's sole purpose in a nutshell is to help you choose a course of action to make your life be what you want it to be.  Hmm.  Quite a few you's in there if you ask me.  I don't know about you but the last time I checked I was still a "Jar of clay" (2 Cor 4:7).  As far as I am aware, the potter always gets to choose what the clay will become.  See Romans 9:20-21 for a pretty good explanation of how this all works.

No thanks.  I don't need a Life Coach.  I need a life.  Thanks to Jesus Christ, I now have one.  I am continually aware of the need to ask Him to correct and redirect my wandering heart.  I am to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God...