GRACE DRIVEN IDENTITY

                                               

I've heard a lot of people say "How you see yourself determines everything", or something like "if  you want to make a change i your life, you have to first change how you see yourself". Well its basically the same thing here,

i'm going to make a list of some points that have so far helped me in the realization that i am a new person

• Believers get a new life with a radical new identity, in other words, "you are not who you used to be"! 2 Corinthians 5:17 hits the nail on the head "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" so it doesn't matter who you were, what you did, or what you didn't do, of course people might not readily accept this truth, but what does it matter when the Father has said Himself...."you are a new creation!"
• Not knowing about this new identity enslaves you. you end up having no clue that whatever you did in the past doesn't matter, your slate has been wiped clean and you miss out on all the numerous benefits that comes with this new life. There is one way to make sure this doesn't happen, basically...read the bible, not just read, study it, because in it lies the answer to all the questions you could ever have.
• As a new creation in Christ, Gods truth about you is different from the worlds views about you (and we know which one matters right?) see what God says about you and what the world wants you to believe which are two very opposite things

1. the world says you are a sinner because you sometimes sin, but God says "you are a saint who sometimes sins"
2. The world says you get your identity from what you have done in the past, bit God says " you get your identity from what my son has done for you"
3. The world wants you to believe you get your identity from what people say about you, but God wants you to know that "you get your identity from what God says about you". So now that you are a new creation, what does God say about you??? don't now what He says about you and you want to find out? easy, its in the bible.
4. The world says "your behavior tells you what to believe about yourself" but God says "your belief about yourself should direct your behavior"

Isaiah tells us in chapter 43:18-19 "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the

past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?"

Ezekiel 36:26 says "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

          I am learning that it is by no means by my power but by the mighty grace of God for Romans 5:19 says "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." So who would you rather be? who the world says you are? or who the Lord says you are?                                 

                                                                                                                                To be continued...