Chameleon

I was looking very stylish,
In my hat so tried and true,
Until to my surprise, I learned,
You don’t like the color blue.

Well, I have a red one,
Perhaps a bit of green,
Floppy brim, Fedora,
And all types in between.

I will wear my red dress.
Or would you prefer the white?
So many small decisions,
That I have to make just right.

But then I came to realize,
It’s me there in the mirror,
What I have to be is true to me.
Now it’s getting clearer.

Why are we chameleons,
Changing with the tide?
To be unaccepted,
Makes us want to run and hide.

It can be exhausting,
Running to and fro,
Changing hats and clothing,
Not knowing where to go.

It’s not just hats and clothing,
It’s what we think and feel,
It’s what we like and dislike,
We forget we must be real.

Real to our own standards.
Real to our own dreams.
Real to who we’re made to be.
No matter how it seems.

It’s so easy just to go along.
It’s not hurting anyone.
Except that at the end of day,
Have we really won?

Have we lost a bit of who we are?
Have we tried so hard to please?
Have we held on tightly, far too long,
Without being on our knees?

Relationships don’t work well,
When the people change on whim.
The only change that ever lasts,
Is change that comes from HIM.

We make our little idols,
Out of fabricated whims,
Losing pieces of ourselves,
Rarely seeking Him.

We think we’ve got it figured out.
Quick-changing who we are,
But when all we see is “we” and “me”,
We’ve detoured way too far.

The only way to understand,
The YOU you’re meant to be,
Is seeking Him, in Word and prayer,
He will set you free.

Free to stop adjusting,
Free to walk the narrow road,
Free to be the YOU He made,
No more pushing against the goad.

Stop being a chameleon.
Be the one and only you.
Be in His will and in His plan,
Give Him Glory by being you!

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Jews did not associate with Gentiles since they considered them unclean.
As Peter sat on the roof of the house of Simon the tanner, he had a dream.

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth, and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:11-15)

A Gentile, named Cornelius, was led by the Lord to summon Peter.
Cornelius went to the house of Simon the tanner where Peter was staying.
Cornelius asked Peter to come to his home so that Peter could tell them everything the Lord commanded you to tell us. (Acts 10:33)
Peter followed Cornelius to his home and went inside.

“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)

Later Paul opposed Peter because Peter acted one way in front of the Jews and another way in front of the Gentiles.

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
(Galatians 2:11-13)

It is comforting for me to know that even Peter struggled with chameleon-like tendencies.
He acted one way with the Jews and another way with the Gentiles.
Paul noticed and told him that cannot be.

This chameleon-like behavior was not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, according to Paul. (Galatians 2:14)

How about us?
Do we act one way with one group of people and another way with different group?
If so, we are not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel either.

God created us and wired us the way He did to glorify Himself.
When we change to accommodate others, we deny the reality of HIM in our lives.
We are basically saying that we know better than God does.
That is never the case.

It is so important to be true to Him by being true to the way He made us.
Let God be the One who does the changing.
It is exhausting to do the quick-change ourselves.
It is never fruitful.

Be true to Him.
Be the YOU He created you to be.