The New Normal
I was watching a scene in Kung Fu Panda 3 this morning where Master Shifu was taking to Po Panda: “So Po, how did the teaching go today?” asked Shifu.
Po responded, “Humiliating! I don’t know how to teach, I am done! I don’t want to do this anymore!”
“Done teaching, or being humiliated?” Said, Master Shifu.
Po responded, “Both…”
“If you do only what you can do, you’ll never be more than what you are. You need to grow and figure out who you are and what you can do.” Responded Master Shifu.
I bursted out laughing when I heard Po Panda explaining how he feels, because I can relate to being humiliated in my own life, and then I was impressed with Master Shifu’s response to Po being frustrated with himself.
Anytime you’re doing something New it can seem overwhelming. It sure does for me. It’s like seeing your own reflection in a mirror. This is who you are right now. You get a good look at yourself, you see your limitations and your flaws. And you instantly realize that you need to change.
I was reminded of this scripture;
“Take your every day life, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life, and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit in to it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:1-2)
The part that stuck out to me the most, was “you’ll be changed from the inside out.”
GOD is saying, “Hey now, don’t get discouraged with yourself, I will NOT leave you where you are at, I will change you from the inside out, without you hardly noticing. I’ll make you into a better version of you. But I need you to trust ME, and I’ll walk you though this New Normal, because I AM going to put you into opportunities that will benefit you and MY plans for your life. ”
“If you do only what you can do, you’ll never be more than what you are.”
The New Norm is designed to transform you into the Real you. GOD wants to STRETCH you into maturity. It’s through the stretching that you figure out who you are in Christ; your identity. The struggling produces self-control and patience, which produces character, which molds you into a Kingdom person for a certain position.
It’s who you are, it’s your heart, that’s important to God. It’s the type of person you are that matters to Him. He promised to make you into a better you if you take HIS advice and show up for HIS teachings.
He is a hands-on GOD, in other words, He always gives you an outlet; a safe place to develop what you’ve learned from HIM.
There is a New Season that you have stepped into. Everything is about to change for the good of God’s Kingdom and your life. And it will start with you, then your heart, your mind, your circumstances, and finally you’ll start bearing fruit.
There is a little of Po Panda in each of us. So, don’t give up! GOD won’t leave you behind. HE will change you from the inside out.
