John 6: 44 NKJV
Every year it happens. People say goodbye to another year, often with the promises and oaths that somehow the coming new year will be different from that which had just passed. By the time the clock strikes midnight on January 31st, plans are already in place to begin something new. This brought to mind this past week a question a friend who continues to remain nameless has often brought up to me. Do we really need to change? Now, I get all of the new life direction changes which we all have contemplated at one time or another, but do we really need to change? Well, in answer to this I will pose a somewhat different question which we must consider along with this idea of change. Do we need to change who we are? To this, I would say emphatically...NO. However, there remain those among us who will swear up one side and down the other that everyone needs to change once in awhile. Why? Let me just say here that our individual attitudes and behaviors are no indication of who it is we really are inside. Just because someone gets mad at the world doesn't mean that they all of a sudden need to change something. No, what they NEED to do in that situation is to realize who it is they truly are. That, depending on your own view of Christianity at the moment, may open another can of worms. There are those will claim that they are simply a sinner saved by our Lords grace. I always had a issue with this description as in my mind it devalued the works of Christ Jesus on the cross. What was it that Jesus suffered and died for? US! Jesus put Himself on the line and became sin that we would never need suffer that burden {2 Corinthians 5:21}. It was the prayer of Christ on the eve of His crucifixion that we would be one as He and the Father were one {John 17:21}. Have you ever felt that Jesus needed to change? Probably not. However, when we mess with the idea that we somehow need to change the way we see ourselves, we're messing with the very image of Christ. For it is we who are created in His image {Genesis 1:27}. Indeed, when we look into that mirror, the image we should be seeing is Jesus. Instead, all too many people look upon themselves based upon the lies of the accuser. You're too fat, too dumb or not religious enough for God to have a relationship with you. All of that is crap! Not only is it old covenant thinking, it denies what Christ has already done in each of us. The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians that Jesus is a intimate part of our lives. For it is Christ who now lives in us {Galatians 2:20}. Now, you might think that I'm simply cherry picking scriptures here, I've heard that argument before as well.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 John 4: 15 NKJV
The first time I came to the realization of who I truly am came the morning I was first baptized. As the pastor, again, someone who continues to remain nameless, brought me out of the water I knew I was now part of something special. I was...a Christian. Of course, I soon realized that it wasn't the baptism that defined me, but Christ whom I was confessing. As much as I knew that Jesus had bled and died for me, I still had the agonizing feeling...that I needed to change. That old feedback loop of lies played over and over in my mind. Does God REALLY love you? How can God be close to a sinner? Well, if indeed I was still a sinner I could understand that mindset. If indeed I was still stained I might be able to understand the talk that I somehow needed to change. But, here's the rub, we're no longer sinners in Gods eyes. In fact, not only did Jesus forgive our transgressions, He Himself put sin to death. Paul tells us that we should consider ourselves now dead to sin {Romans 6:11}. That's right, not only are our sins forgiven, we're dead to it. What does that mean? Well, how can one sin if they are dead to it? Oh, what about those sins I continue to commit? You know, the ones I need to continue to seek my Lords forgiveness for? Well, here's my response to that...have you forgotten who it is you really are? Does Jesus sin? So, if we are but His image, do we continue to be guilty of sin? I know this could be a big pill to swallow for most, but that doesn't make it any less true. The fact remains that we, being His children, are the image of Christ Jesus. In fact, the world around us will never know God but through us. Still think you need to change? Well, wait until next year and make another new resolution.
~Scott~
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