Devotions from Ortberg’s book, The Me I want to Be

God designed us to be ourselves and He delights in our actual lives. When we grow toward the me we Want to be, we are freed from the me we pretend to be. Pretending to be someone we’re not is hard work and takes lots of energy.

Comparison with others kills spiritual growth in our lives too. Henri Nouwen wrote, “Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others. IT has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be. We all have a me that we think we SHOULD be, which is at odds with the me God made us to be. We need to let go of that self which is a big relief. But even though this is a death ( to false self) a better and nobler self can come to life.  Sometimes we are so concerned to be what other people want us to be that we live a shallow life. Nobody else can tell you exactly how to change because nobody but God knows. God gets the final word on who God made us to be and He has no other agenda. God is at work every moment to help us become his best version of ourselves!