Our creative life isn’t just about what we do. It’s about who we are. I believe the gospel isn’t just a redemption of our activity; it is ultimately a redemption of our identity. If we never tell our deepest story honestly, then we can never truly reform.
He Saw That It Was Good p. 14
This is, it seems, what it means to work out our salvation. The gospel is meant to conform us into the image of God. Yet the gospel doesn’t make us Jesus clones. Just read the gospels and you see Mark’s and John’s personalities come through as they show us Jesus from their perspectives. We are not erased as we are transformed more and more into the image of our Savior. That is mystery.
Certainly the self that is selfish, the self that desires notoriety, the self that always seeks to win—that self is hopefully lost and unfindable in the transformation. And that is a good thing. But no matter how much I look like Jesus, in this life, I’ll still not look like or act like or create like Todd or David or Amy or my wife or daughters. And that is good a good thing.
For each of us, our stories have shaped us. And those stories are an important part of our redemption. For if we don’t know our stories well, how will we know what to repent of? What to crucify? What to share with others? What to celebrate as part of how God has made us?
Lingering Over Leaves 