It is great to look back on my life, examine myself, and see the progress I have made in developing my ” self “. I can see my character develop over the years. So glad it has! The good is increasing. Yes!! (2 Peter 1: verse 8) And the bad is on the decline (Hebrews 12: verse 1). Thank God. Thank God. Only God!
What about you? I am sure you can see your progress in your development. Isn’t it great we do not have to stay the same! We can, but, that’s never a good choice (unless you’ve reached perfection)!
We can work with God to improve who we are, what we do, what we will become. I’m 65 – and still workin’ at it! Life can turn you into a bog, or shine you into a diamond. Your choice!
Don’t get stuck in a rut. Don’t let failures keep you down. Who you are is not defined by how you’ve failed! Don’t let your mind, or the gossip of others, define yourself by your great failures or even by one sin. You are not your past. If you are born again, Christ has removed your sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).
Believe what God says about you. Define yourself as the one Christ Himself died to save! God Himself came down to earth as the man Christ Jesus – to save you. That is huge. That makes you of immense value. Define yourself as the eternal creation you are “in Christ”… not by the sins He has forgiven you for (past, present, and future sins).
our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. – Romans 6: 6-14
Don’t accept sin. Don’t let it stay. Life is like a movie set, where you make a new “take” until it’s right! (That’s why movies cost millions of dollars!)
Clip away your bad “takes”. Clip your sinful failures out of your mind, keep your self-talk biblical, speak truth to yourself, not the lies of gossips and the world… and press on (Philippians 3:13-15).
Look to Christ to change you, more and more each day, into His good Representative to everyone around you (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process:
Passage: Romans 5 …verses 3-5:
“we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and
perseverance, proven character; and
proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
– Romans 5: verses 3-5
Passage: 2 Peter 1 …verses 3-11:
“His divine power has granted to us
everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him
who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us
His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them
you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also,
applying all diligence,
in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and
in your knowledge, self-control, and
in your self-control, perseverance, and
in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and
in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and
in your brotherly kindness,
love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing,
they render you neither useless nor unfruitful
in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these qualities
is blind or short-sighted,
having forgotten
his purification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brethren,
be all the more diligent
to make certain about
His calling and choosing you;
for as long as you practice these things,
you will never stumble;
11 for in this way
the entrance into the eternal
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
will be abundantly supplied to you.”
– 2 Peter 1: verses 3-11
FOR MORE:
Imagine You, the Perfect Person
Who Are You In Christ? This leads you to an interactive Excel document…. If you do not have Excel: see the edited version here: Who You Are In Christ
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