Week 3 in Review

Oops. I should have done this Saturday evening or Sunday, but I was so busy, I forgot it. Thankfully I'm OCD so this is chronologically correct in the blog, even though I'm writing it after Day 30.

The theme was "You Were Created to Become Like Christ."

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How is "becoming like Jesus Christ" different from the way most people understand "discipleship"?
I think most people's connotation of "disciple" is someone either of higher, status ("special" people like pastors) or very "religious", mysterious people ("special" people in an entirely different way). But the truth is that anyone can be a disciple, but they have to choose to accept Jesus' sacrifice into their lives and live their lives knowing that He came to save them. That's not necessarily an easy thing to grasp right away, but once you see it. . . man. This article is quite good (and quite long) if you're interested in a very fleshed out definition of discipleship. There's some really great stuff in it. Challenging stuff.

What are some of the changes you have seen in your life since you became a believer? What have others noticed?
I think the biggest thing (that answers both questions in a way) is my (recently revived) desire to share the Good News with others. I'm not on the street corners passing out flyers, and I generally don't push people into conversations, but I have always open to a discussion about religion and my beliefs. I hope that people have found this blog and have gained some insight about being a Christian. I originally considered exporting it to facebook notes, but instead I've just been putting links to it in my status and info (mostly because having a daily note from me on people's Livefeed is a great way for them to block posts from me or simply ignore it).

A year from now, how would you like to be more Christlike? What can you do today to move toward that goal?
I want to be less afraid of my emotions. Jesus went through everything, from anger (remember: flipping tables over in the temple) to great joy to sadness to suffering, and everything in between. More importantly, I need to make sure my emotions are matching the situation, and then I am reacting the appropriate way to said situation. For example, if something clearly unBiblical is going on and I'm not offended and speaking up about it (when appropriate), I need to check my thoughts (and in some cases, not be afraid). I think the biggest thing I can do now is just be more open with people and not put on the "everything is always in control" face. That doesn't mean I'm going to start moping around and sharing all my troubles, but I need to be sure that I'm having true joy when things aren't going right, since I know that those times and situations are meant to help me grow, and I should be thankful that He wants to make me stronger (and excited to become stronger so that I can continue to serve Him better!).

Where in your spiritual growth are you having to be patient because there seems to be little progress?
I'm not sure. I don't know if I even know all the areas I need to work on yet. I'm still working on giving my job over to God and always doing it with the right attitude.

How has God used pain or trouble to help you grow?
This past summer (and by summer it was really like late March until mid-October) was probably the toughest time I've faced so far. God's message to me? "STOP RELYING ON THE WORLD AND TRUST IN ME."

When are you most vulnerable to temptation? Which of the steps to defeating temptation could help you most?
Generally frustration/stress/anger is what gets me into the most trouble. What I've been doing lately (and successfully, at least so far) is changing my attention to something else. Instead of fighting the mental battle and making it worse, I just turn away from it and towards something else, often Scripture (I've been recommitting 1 Corinthians 13 to memory) or a song.