I dont really know about this blog post. I have sat down three times to write it in the past two weeks. I have just been having a really hard time putting my thoughts together and then down on the computer. I dont know how this one is going to be, so bare with me while I unload everything that has been laid upon my heart.
It is crazy how the way we view ourselves can change the way we talk and act. If we view ourselves as unworthy or less, when provision comes we will deny and push it away. If we see ourselves as unclean and when we are approached with righteousness we will hide from that place from which it came. I am not talking about that self-love, need a day off, love yourself type of view. I am talking about the view of how God sees us. We can take as many days off as we can. We can be as selfish as possible and only think about ourselves and still be lacking the love and perspective for our own lives that will only leave us lacking.
3 John 11 “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”
Why is it that we continue to do things that show the life that we bear inside of us? Why is i that we will continue to fall into a pattern of sin over and over again. Is it because we have never seen God in that aspect of our life? I dont know. But I do know what happened in Paul’s life when he saw God. Acts 9:8 “Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.” After he saw God on the road to Damascus he was no longer able to live the life of evil. He saw God. He was blind for three days after his encounter with God. The dead parts in his life that were bearing the fruit of evil, were burned away from God’s light. He no longer was able to produce evil in his life. He was a new creation. He became who he had always been intended to be. He was given a new identity. He was no longer Saul; who went sowing death and destruction to God’s kingdom. He was now Paul; a man who was going to be the catalyst of the early Church.
Just imagine what would happen if we physically saw God in every aspect of our lives. We would no longer struggle with false identity, or with sexual sin, we would no longer deal with anger, no longer be tormented with thoughts of suicide, the lies of anxiety or depression that are whispered into our lives will no longer have dominion in our minds. We can live in that identity. We will never be able to will ourselves into it. We will never be able to earn it. We can only receive it from the one who holds it. We dont receive it just once either. We have to continue to receive it each new day. 1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trails, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested in fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Continued living in our true identity through the trials that we face will only bring praise and glory to Jesus Christ.
To be honest, this is not what I had in mind gong into this post. It is cool to just let God lead me in writing this. Identity is such a crazy thing, everything we do revolves around the way we not just view ourselves but also view others. That is another blog post though.
