I’m a fairly avid coffee drinker, but I’m not gonna lie: I like my coffee to look much more like milk than coffee. I’m one of those… “Would you like more coffee with your creamer, ma’am?” Yep, that’s me. But I don’t love when there’s so much creamer that I can’t taste the coffee anymore. I love to strike that perfect balance… When there’s just enough creamer to soften the bitter edge of the coffee, but not so much that it overshadows the coffee. Throw in a little sweetener, and they are all perfect complements to one another.

As simplistic as this may be, just as I like my coffee to look more like milk than coffee, I like to look more like God than me!

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30 (NASB)

I’m happiest when I have been in His Presence. I’m the most satisfied when I know that I’m close to Him. His Presence takes that bitter edge off of life. When I skip that quiet time in the morning, because I overslept or am overwhelmed by the list of things to get done that day… Those are the days I become restless inside. Those are the days I feel edgy and don’t like who I am. Those days, I feel less palatable to myself and to those around me. I’ve found that if I can force even 15 minutes into my morning and go ahead and spend some time with God when I’m starting out, the rest of the day goes much smoother, and we strike that perfect balance… God and me, all mixed up together. It makes for a much more pleasant day!

While this all sounds great, I’ve also become aware that sometimes some of us struggle with God’s increasing and our decreasing, because we’re afraid of completely losing who we are… like God wants to make us some Spirit-led robot with no personality and no foot in reality. We have this notion that God’s goal is to have a bunch of hyper-spiritual alien-like humans who all look and sound and act alike. So we nurture this fear inside that doesn’t allow us to completely surrender to God, because we’re afraid of what He’ll take away or what He’ll change about us.

We mistakenly think that in order for God to take over and really be Lord in our lives, He wants us just to diminish into the background. God does want 100% surrender, and He wants 100% of you. But it’s not because He wants to smash away everything about you and clone you into somebody else.

Get this… The great thing about locking arms with God is that He already likes you. Even with all of your flaws, all of your problems, even all of your sins… He still likes you. (No, He doesn’t like the sin, but He’s wild about the person — you!) Remember, He created you. Every time we see God create in Genesis, we see Him sit back, review His work, and like what He just made!

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

When God made you, He liked you, and He still likes you. He created your personality, and He likes it, so He’s not trying to get rid of the you He created!

Remember, the purpose of the creamer is to complement the coffee, to make it more palatable, not to mask it altogether. So while God does require 100% surrender of ourselves, we need to realize that He respects our intricacies and our personalities, because He’s the one who put them there. He’s not asking you to become a clone of whoever you think is this year’s World’s Greatest Christian. He’s asking you for all of you, so He can make you look more like Him. But you’ll still taste a lot like you.

That’s why you can see so many different, powerful, anointed ministers who have very different styles but are equally as effective in the Kingdom of God. One person may pray with you in the altar with tears and wailing and strong emotion, and another person may pray very calmly, systematically, and logically, and both people can be equally as used by God to minister to you. Their “secret formula” is not the method; it’s simply a life of being 100% surrendered to God and led by His Spirit. Once we surrender, He works through our personalities – who He made us to be – to minister to those around us in our own flavor.

One more thought…

This doesn’t mean we have an excuse to refuse change in parts of our personalities that don’t line up with who God is. For example, if I don’t guard myself, I can tend to snap at people around me, responding sharply and insensitively to them, especially when I’m feeling pressured or stressed. This may be a tendency of my personality, but it doen’t give me excuse to say, “Well, that’s just my personality; I’m just a direct, abrupt person, so people need to get over it.” I still have to surrender 100% of my personality to my Creator, so He can continue to refine me… so His purifying fire can burn away all of the distasteful elements that have become intertwined in my personality by living in a world where the fleshly nature runs rampant. The great thing is, though, that the nature of a Creator is to continue creating. As long as I stay 100% surrendered, He will continue creating in me, making me look a lot more like Him. How exciting is that?!

So, (coffee mugs raised)…

May the surrendering on my end never stop, and may the creating on His end never stop…

Cheers!