What Defines You?

How do you feel when someone defines or characterizes you according to your past mistakes or past errant lifestyle? It hurts, doesn't it. You may be a completely different person in the here and now, and yet there is always someone who won't allow you to be a new person. But that is what we are said to be in Christ, new creations.

I am glad 2 Corintians 5:17 is in the Bible.  When we accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and repent of our sins with the repentance He gives us (Acts 5:31, Rom. 2:4), we indeed become new creations in Christ! We have crossed over from death to life, from darkness to light, and from condemnation to full acceptance with our Father in heaven. This can be a daily experience of newness in Christ.

What Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery he says to us: "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11). If we seriously take Jesus up on His ultra acceptance and power to live a new life, we will begin a new experience of faith and righteousness.

I'm also glad that Ezekiel 18:21-24 is in the Bible. In this passage God clarifies that if a wicked person turns from all of his sins and begins, with the strength of the Lord, to do that which is "lawful and right," his former transgressions will not be "mentioned." God adds that this new person will live "in his righteousness." This is very forward-looking on the part of our heavenly Father; very gracious.

The apostle Paul, in appreciating the grace of a God who chooses to forget, freely admits that he has not yet arrived, nor yet arrived in heaven, nor yet reached perfection. But the Holy Spirit moved upon Brother Paul to add these forward-looking words of encouragement:

"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13, 14).

My brother, my sister, if our Lord can relate to us as blood-bought sons and daughters of God and not hold our past in our face, how should we relate to ourselves and to one another?

We should allow people to be defined by their present course, not by their past missteps. Our personal identity in Christ speaks louder than our former life of sin.

What of those individuals who define us by our past? Their opinion does not compare to the overwhelming love and favor of God. Define yourself according to His love and plans for you.

Daily Loading of Benefits

Our God is so very good to us. Just reading in the psalms, and in Psalm 68:19, David declares, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation."

Are we taking advantage of this daily loading? We take time to download the latest software, or the latest app that seems interesting. We take time for all sorts of things that are not in the category of needful.

But the spiritual benefits of the Lord are absolutely necessary. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, but these benefits come to us through our knowledge of Him (2 Pet. 1:3).

Whether they be the fruit of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance--or the ability to put a roof over our heads, these benefits come to us through our firm reliance on the Lord. 

A daily download of spiritual benefits. Opening the heart to God as to a friend. Sitting at the feet of Jesus as did Mary. Taking in all that He has for us. Taking His Word personally and seriously. Such an experience will take us all the way to heaven.