No one sins just like you do
Published: Mon, 05/19/25
Updated: Mon, 05/19/25
Sessions Include:Lesson #1 Lesson #2 Lesson #3 Lesson #4 Lesson #5 Lesson #6 Lesson #7 Lesson #8 Lesson #9 Lesson #10 Lesson #11 Lesson #12 Lesson #13 Lesson #14 Lesson #15 Lesson #16 Lesson #17 Lesson #18 The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #19 The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #20 The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #20 The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #21 The Me I Want to Be / Lesson #22
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It is critical to learn the patterns at the core of the me you want to be and the corresponding sin patterns, for no one is more vulnerable than the person who lacks self-awareness. Jesus warned about people who go around taking specks out of others’ eyes while failing to notice the two-by-four in their own. My signature sin is my own two-by-four — so appealing to me that it is my biggest danger, so close to me I am apt not to see it. As I become more aware of my signature sin, I sometimes wish I could be like someone else. I fall into the “achiever” category, so I sometimes think I would be less sinful if I were a “server.” But every category wrestles with sin, only in different ways. Knowing every category has its own hidden temptations helps me be less likely to envy someone else when I am doing badly and less likely to judge someone else when I think I am doing well. Knowing our signature pattern also tells us what we need to be most fully spiritually alive. If you are a reformer, you will need to be aware of the risk of self-righteousness, but you will also know that you have been wired by God with a passion for justice and that this passion is a good thing. You will feel God’s presence most fully when you can express it with freedom and love. Finally, knowing other people’s patterns helps us live in community better. As we learn about others’ patterns, we become more patient with those whose signature sins are different than ours. We can make sure helpers don’t always get stuck in “serving” mode; we can encourage peacemakers to speak honestly when they are angry. We grow into a way of talking about our sin so that we challenge each other in ways that include laughter and lightness about our common brokenness. I had lunch last week with a friend and co-worker who tends to be a peacemaker. At the end of our lunch, he had one more thing to tell me, which was to remind me of a group conversation we had both been part of a week earlier where I had communicated frustration and anger in inappropriate ways. He was gently telling me that I had sinned, and it was not fun for me to hear that. One difficulty of being in relationship with this guy is that he only sins about once a decade. But I am watching him very carefully, so that when it happens I can be there for him too. For when we know ourselves and each other, when we walk in love, we are free to be called to the best version of ourselves — God’s hand-signed version of ourselves. That is the signature we really want. John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 12–13. If you would like to explore this new study, it is available on Amazon, as well as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking Why Study Books?My church recently transitioned to using books as curriculum in our Sunday School. The reason is simple. My life has been profoundly influenced by the reading of books. I don’t think my life has ever been changed by any curriculum piece I have ever read. Ever. I have actually surveyed a number of groups I have taught over the years, asking: Has your life ever been changed by any curriculum? The most common response is for people to laugh out loud. Our first study was the Bless book by Dave and Jon Ferguson. It is a great study on relational lifestyle evangelism. About half-way through the the study, we did a survey to help determine what we would study next. No one wanted to go back to the curriculum. Not. One. Person. The #1 choice for what to study next was a tie:
We will be studying these two books over the next year and a half or so. Here is what Amazon says about Ortberg’s book: The Me I Want to Be will help you discover spiritual vitality like never before as you learn to "live in the flow of the spirit." Why does spiritual growth seem so difficult? God's vision for your life is not just that you are saved by grace, but that you also learn to live by grace, flourishing with the Spirit flowing through you. And this book will show how God's perfect vision for you starts with a powerful promise: All those who trust in God "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Pastor and best-selling author John Ortberg first helps gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. Then he provides detailed tasks and exercises to help you live in the flow of the Spirit, circumventing real-world barriers - pain and sorrow, temptations, self-doubt, sin - to flourish even in a dark and broken world. As you start living in the flow, you will feel:
God invites you to join him in crafting an abundant and joy-filled life. The Me I Want to Be shows you how to graciously accept his invitation. I have just completed a new, 22-week study of John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be that we will be using in my church. (I had previously done a 7-week study.) I have always thought that using books as a curriculum would be a good idea, and I have written a lot of book studies over the years. One of the things that actually using books as curriculum caused me to realize has to do with cost. By writing a study on every chapter of this book, instead of my previous study that had a lesson for every section, the cost drops to below what we were paying for curriculum. Better curriculum. Cheaper cost. Win. Win.
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