Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
(Philippians 1:27)
As we say goodbye to 2021 and look toward the new year, what if becoming the new you in 2022 is about who you choose to unbecome.
Many associate Christianity with what we do rather than who we become. But there is beauty in the new year for those who are willing to pause and ponder this question:
How has this year been unbecoming for you?
It’s a simple yet profound question to think about. Looking back at your year in review doesn’t mean you were perfect, but it should be evident that your daily desire was to become more like Christ.
The journey of becoming is really about unbecoming to become all that God meant you to be.
Becoming is a matter of honesty with ourselves and with God. Unbecoming will stretch and grow you. It’s uncomfortable—but it is also beautiful.
The enemy is after your becoming because it is an invitation to cause someone else to unbecome—for them to become more Christlike.
At the introduction of one of my signature programs, I usually begin the session with a quote by Paul Coelho that says:
“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”
Do you long to be who God meant you to be?
Have you perhaps lost yourself in what someone else or the world wanted you to be? In what you thought would make you happy?
Are you ready to say goodbye to the behavior that is unbecoming—not fitting, inappropriate, unflattering—for a believer that is not shaping or serving you?
Are you weary with holding who God meant for you to be hostage because you want what you want more than what God wants for your life?
Paul said to the Colossians: You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things…as we put off the old man, we must put on the new man.
There is a key word in our Bible verse for this devotional that will ultimately determine your beautiful unbecoming for 2022. Philippians 1:27 says: Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Is the gospel of Christ worthy to walk in a way that the Lord deserves from us? It is hard to conduct ourselves in a manner or become who we want to be in life if we don’t consider what we want to be worthy of our actions.
As we close this year out and head into a new one, I invite you to be honest and vulnerable before the Lord.
Grab some hot tea and sit in your comfy chair without any distractions. Download the Unbecoming—Year In Review: 2021 Journal to become aware of who you’ve been being that is unbecoming, so you can surrender it to the Lord and not take it with you in the new year.
Your beautiful unbecoming is the new thing that God wants to do in your life. Let’s make 2022 our more becoming year!
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland (Isaiah 43:19).
Prayer: Jesus, help me to unbecome. Help me to review the film of my life in 2021 and with your help, transform what’s not like you. Help me to discover—though uncomfortable—the beauty in my unbecoming. Your divine power has already given me everything I need for life and for godliness. This is a holy moment that I will look back on as a defining change for the rest of my life of letting go of my old ways to embrace a new me.