The Midweek

The Work of Becoming

On Sunday, we opened Out of Egypt with a question: Why begin this story with a people in captivity? Because getting out of Egypt is one thing. Getting Egypt out of us is the work of a lifetime. God doesn’t simply free the people from slavery. God begins the much longer work of teaching them how to live as free people. Dare I call it discipleship?

I’ve (Pastor Donnell) been thinking about that as we’ve traveled around the country visiting colleges with my daughter. After sitting through several college information sessions, I’ve noticed the pitch is pretty consistent: come here, get a phenomenal education, build a phenomenal network, and we’ll prepare you for a successful and phenomenal future. And that matters. But I keep noticing what nobody talks much about: Who will my daughter become while she’s there? Will she become more compassionate, loving, curious, and filled with wonder, not simply more successful?

I’m coming up on 30 years since graduating from college, and I’m incredibly grateful for what my education gave me. I learned how to think critically, synthesize information, write, communicate, create, and keep learning. Those skills have allowed me to move through very different worlds over the last three decades. My education opened doors for me. But looking back, I’m increasingly aware that opening doors and forming a person are not quite the same thing.

That’s the deeper work God is doing in Exodus. Freedom isn’t merely about where God brings us out of. It’s about who God is forming us into. Israel can leave Egypt in a night, but learning to live differently after Egypt takes much longer. The habits, fears, assumptions, and ways of seeing themselves that were formed in captivity don’t simply disappear when Pharaoh lets them go.

And maybe that’s true for us, too. We can experience God’s rescue and still need God’s formation. We can know that we are loved and still live as though we have something to prove. We can know that God provides and still be controlled by scarcity. We can know that we are free and still organize our lives around fear.

That is the work of becoming.

And that’s part of why the work we do together as the church matters so much: to help people find Jesus, know Jesus, fall in love with Jesus, and ultimately be transformed by Jesus. We aren’t simply asking what we believe. We’re asking what kind of people those beliefs are forming us to become.

There’s one other thing I’ve noticed on these college tours: the rooms are filled with anxiety. Seventeen-year-olds and their parents are wondering about an uncertain future. Fear can become its own Egypt, telling us we’re not enough, we’re not loved, or everything depends on us getting the future exactly right.

So carry this with you this week: I am held in the hands of God. Say it when you wake up, when anxiety rises, and when you don’t know what comes next. That’s what I want my daughter to know wherever she lands, and it’s what I want for all of us.

Name your Egypt. Trust the God who brings you out. And take another step toward becoming the people God is forming.

Were you gone this Sunday?

• Catch Pastor Donnell's sermon opening our Out of Egypt series on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts during your commute or afternoon stroll this week.