BE A MUG!!

In Australia, we have a saying, ‘Don’t be a mug, mate!’    It essentially means ‘Don’t be an idiot!’  

You don’t hear it so much these days, but it was quite common when I was growing up.

But I want to say that I think we need to be a mug, or at least I do. 

I received five mugs for Christmas and several journals.  Last Christmas I got lots of tea.  I can’t drink coffee and so I love to experiment with different teas.

I have a lot of different mugs on my kitchen shelves.   I rarely have two the same.   I love quirky mugs, solid mugs, big mugs and mugs with a solid base on them, so I don’t knock them over.  I don’t have a favourite – they’re all special.   Many of them are gifts that have been given to me, which makes them more special.   

Lately I’ve been reading and listening to some people on Instagram that I follow, and the general theme is show up authentically, be yourself, stop keeping the peace, stop being quiet, stop playing nice, be who you really are. 

What’s that got to do with mugs?   A lot, as it turns out.  Back to that in a minute.

I think ‘show up authentically’ can be mistaken for do and say whatever you want and expect others to suck it up and like you anyway, or walk away.   I don’t believe most of these Instagram people mean that by it, but it could be taken that way.  

I think they’re trying to speak to people who’ve spent their lives, like me, squeezing into molds, shapes, and images, to earn love, keep love, be accepted, be heard, be validated. 

We can spend our lives trying to live up to a certain image that we want others to see and accept, and we can do all sorts of masking, pretending, and performing to convince ourselves and others that that’s who we are. 

None of that is helpful, but also not right and not accurate.  It’s not godly behaviour at all, but it often presents as good works or being ‘nice’ or giving.    If our motivation is off, the fruit can look great, but not be real and not last.  

I love the verse in the psalms where it talks about mercy meeting truth.

Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.  Ps 85:10

Jesus was all about truth and grace going together.  

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.    For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.   John 1:16,17

But His grace couldn’t be applied while people were pretending, hiding, performing, and masking the truth.  He called out the reality of their situation and their actions and their hearts.    

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:31,32

For some people, that was liberating, because they responded with repentance and gratitude and they got healed, got set free, got to move forward, were able to grow.  

For other people who wanted to maintain the image, and perhaps the power and control that their image afforded them, His message wasn’t liberating - it was offensive. 

Lately, He’s been offending me a bit and I’ve had to dig deeper and ask what He wants.   For the past year, He has put His finger on motivation and image and performance.    And now, for this month of January, He has told me to step back from everything and just get quiet with Him.   We can keep ourselves pretty busy with good works and showing up a certain way and miss who He is and what He wants for us. 

So, why do we do all of that?   Because we don’t know who we are and we don’t know how HE sees us.   Perhaps we’re trying to do what we think He wants.   Perhaps it’s just how we’ve learnt to love Him and love people.  

I think we can get caught up doing it to convince people we’re mature, win respect and perhaps position and credibility.   Perhaps it’s just to earn love and acceptance. 

But we need to be the mug that we actually are, not somebody else.   The mug HE designed and HE requires of us – nothing more, nothing less.  

We need to show up as we are – cracked, flawed, the ‘wrong’ colour, the ‘wrong’ shape, the ‘wrong’ size, different to everyone else on the shelf.  

But to do that we have to get an accurate view of how He sees us, who we really are, who HE says we are.  That’s the truth we need.   Not your truth or my truth or their truth, but the truth of the One who sees it all and saw it all before He made us.

Our value has to come from Him, not whether we measure up to the standard of the gathering, family, workplace, school, church, or significant person, etc that we belong to.     If we want to be a vessel that is truly open to and available to His Spirit, we have to show up authentically, and just stop pretending we’re something we’re not.  

Does that mean we bare our dirty laundry for everyone to see?   No, not at all.   But we have to stop hiding the bits of our story and personality that are messy or not acceptable.  

It doesn’t mean we get to be obnoxious and expect others to just accept that.   It just means being real.   Being the people we actually are. 

That just might ruffle some feathers, create strain in some relationships that previously felt like home, might upset some people who want purple mugs when you’re actually pink and you’re wearing yourself out trying to be purple.  It might upset some people who want refined mugs when you’re actually pretty ordinary (in their estimation).  

When we are real and respect our own value enough to stop striving and hiding and earning, then those around us can love us well.   If that’s not the case, we need to move on and find the ones who will.   But we won’t be loved authentically if we don’t show up authentically.   What each of us needs from our gatherings is to be seen and loved as we are.   When we do that, we’ll see where we truly belong, where He has made us to fit.  

What kind of mug are you?   Like, really?   Who are you?  

Are you getting your identity from what HE says?   Are you understanding that your worth is in what HE says, and His character?    Is your doing coming from a place of love and service, or are you striving and pretending and performing and hiding?  

Are you letting Him shape you into the kind of mug HE wants and showing up where HE wants, how HE wants?  

But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.  Isa 64:8

His shaping is done out of love and mercy and the knowledge of who He designed you to be in the first place, before you started being shaped by others, before you started squeezing into molds and hiding flaws.

These are questions He’s asking me, heading into a new year which honestly needs to be different.   One of His main messages to me lately, for the last few months, is ‘do no more, but no less than what I give you to do’.   That’s hard when you’re used to over-functioning because you know that stepping back is going to upset some people and you’re going to be misunderstood.  And they’re going to realise you’re not the mug they thought you were.  

One thing I learned from this book last year was that Jesus was strong enough, secure enough, and loving enough to risk disappointing people and being misunderstood because He knew who He was and He only did what He saw the Father doing.   Sometimes, He said no.  Sometimes, He walked away.  Sometimes, He was quiet.   Sometimes, He healed people on the ‘wrong’ day.  Sometimes He embraced the ‘wrong’ people and disobeyed rules.    Sometimes, He flipped tables.    But He knew the Father, listened to the Father, obeyed the Father, and that was enough for Him.

Is it enough for us?  Is it enough for us to be truly seen by the Father, loved for who we are, refined and shaped by Him?   Because until it is, we will keep hiding, striving, performing and showing up as something else, someone else.   

I want to be that kind of mug, because that’s honestly where the freedom is, and the security is.  That’s how He can pour out into people’s lives through me.   And honestly, isn’t that what it’s really all about?  

  

Changemy heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like You.
You are the potter, I am the clay,
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like You.