Becoming Jesus

What’s up guys!

Like the last post, sorry it’s been a minute; but I’ve been pretty busy lately.

The past month I’ve been learning and growing more than maybe any other time in my life. This school (Lifestyle Christianity University) is absolutely blowing my expectations out of the water. I’ve had the chance to learn not only from Todd White and the incredible staff here at LCU, but also from speakers such as Sean Smith, Eric Gilmour, David Wagner, and more! I’ve stretched myself in every aspect, from discipline, to evangelism, prayer, intimacy (with God), and in basically every other way. It’s hard to believe that I’ve already completed eight weeks here and only have five left, but I’m all the more expectant as to what God has for these last few.

Now, like I said, God is teaching and stretching me in every area of my life, but the spot He and I were really focused on the last month is learning to own myself.

I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been a “wishy-washy” person. I’ve always been the one to be almost hyper-critical of what people say and search out the truth on my own. That said, in the past I have noticed that I can be influenced easily when it comes to especially disciplines and Christian lifestyle. A recent example of this is comparing myself to Todd and/or our lead pastor, Chris.

These are maybe the two best evangelists I know. Both can be very intense when talking about evangelism, outreach, and discipleship; and personality-wise, I don’t have a ton in common with either of them. As Christians, we should be sharing our faith daily (or at least learning to) and the stories and boldness these men walk in is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard.

So, I get to LCU in January and immediately am totally convicted of how I live and how little I’ve shared my faith in the past. However, being the perfectionist, goal-oriented person I am, I immediately hear these men speak and began to put a lot of excess pressure on myself. It got to the point where I couldn’t walk into Target without thinking of how I wasn’t sharing my faith and praying for at least five or ten people. This went on for a couple weeks before I began to realize that I was actually walking in condemnation, and that isn’t from God our Father.

Since then, I’ve really been focused on learning who the Father is and what He feels towards me. He isn’t disappointed and will never condemn me (He will convict us but that’s different). The Father’s heart on this issue isn’t how many people you pray for or share the gospel with. His heart is that you pursue and love Him and let that overflow lead you to telling others about His love; and within that, you don’t become like others. You instead become more like Him. You see, God isn’t asking me to be Todd or Chris, or anyone else for that matter. He’s asking me to be me and to change the world as only I can.

My roommate Tristin put it this way, quoting one of the pastors at LCU, “So many people want to be like Todd (White), but really, not even Todd wants to be like Todd. He wants to be like Jesus.”

So often we can get caught up in what others are doing and compare ourselves to them. But, in the meantime, God is back with our true selves saying, “come to Me! Look at how incredible I made you! I love you this way!”

That’s the topic that’s been on my heart lately, and I think it’s so prevalent today with social media and news always showing us others’ best sides, even if that other is someone as amazing and God-fearing as Todd or other Christian leaders.

There’s revival happening world-wide. But, for that to continue to happen, we need a generation of people who aren’t afraid to be themselves, who aren’t afraid to take off their masks, and who will run after Jesus whether that’s on the stage in a stadium or as a greeter at the local church. It can be easy to get caught up in all this, but at the end of the day there’s only one person we should be striving to become, and that’s Jesus.

But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him (Jesus): ⁶ Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did. -1 John 2:5-6

God Bless!

-Ben

Also! I recently was accepted to lead a one to two-month mission trip this summer (location still to be determined) through Adventures in Missions (they run the World Race). I’ll be gone June and/or July leading college age students as we seek to spread Kingdom.

That said, I will be fundraising soon and would love support as I embark on this new journey.

I’ll also be going back to my old blog (www.benskaar.theworldrace.org) soon so make sure to subscribe and follow along, and even check out stories from last year on the field!

Just a small-town Minnesota boy following Jesus in a big world. Make sure to subscribe and follow along with this crazy adventure! God Bless!