But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:12-13
Did you ever stop and think about how your life and your
limitations were defined? How many of us
are where we are because someone encouraged us in some area or discouraged
us? We define ourselves sometimes by
past mistakes, failures, and negative experiences.
Today, the Bible says, is the day of salvation: For he
says, In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have
helped you. Behold, now is the favorable
time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Regardless of how we looked at ourselves and
our abilities in the past, today we can be made whole. Today we can stop looking at ourselves as
sinners and losers. Today we can allow
the Word of God and the will of God to define us as children of God.
That is not to say that the negative stuff will stop. We may have people around us who will try to
bring us back down for one reason or another and often with good
intentions. We need to have faith in what the word of God
says. We need to use that faith as a
shield to keep the accusations, slander, scorn, and unjust criticisms of the
world from getting into our hearts.
If we do make mistakes – and we will – at least I will, we
accept our responsibility for those mistakes, but we must refuse to allow errors,
sins, and faults to define us. Those are
the mistakes of the flesh, a result of living with a fallen nature in a fallen
world. We also have a new nature, given
to us by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
That is who we are, and … we
appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). Far too many who call themselves Christians
still live under the burden of the old life.
This is not the salvation and deliverance that God intends for His
children. Jesus did not go to the Cross
bearing my sins, shame, and humiliation that I might continue to live broken
and shattered in this world. He found us
broken and rejected. He came to put us
together. Believe it.
3 comments:
"...but we must refuse to allow errors, sins, and faults to define us. Those are the mistakes of the flesh, a result of living with a fallen nature in a fallen world. We also have a new nature, given to us by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. "
Glad to see you posting again. These days, it seems I can step back and watch myself about do the same old sins... but I seem to do them anyhow. I suppose it is a step in the right direction.
Read something the other day. I really like it, it is supposed to be written on a wall in some monastery on Mt. Athos.
It goes something like.
You gotta die before you die so you don't die after you die.
Beautiful! Thank you.
That sounds about right, John.
Thank you Ann.
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