Accepting Who we Are in Christ:
“It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; paid long ages ago, he planned that we should spend these lives helping others.”
~Ephesians 2:10
You don’t have to take my word for it. God wants you to find out for yourself who you are by reading His Word. It is utmost important that you go to the Bible to find out how He feels about you. Your identity should never be based on a hope or a guess. God gave us His Word, the Bible, so you can know Him and know who He is making you to be in Him. We are members of His household; we were not meant to be a stranger in Gods Kingdom.
“You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
~Ephesians 2:19
Paul is encouraging followers of Christ to remember that they are all part of one family. That we are to be unified with each other. This unity can only happen when we begin to understand that we are a legitimate child of God, part of His family. As a child of God, we become blessed, and in Christ we are loved. We are accepted and welcomed into his Family with delight. We are Gods righteousness, we know this because of his goodness and rightness that Christ did on the cross. This was given to all of us so that we can be called righteous by our God.
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
~2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV
We are also forgiven. As someone who is forgiven, we can now freely forgive others. God extended this grace an undeserved favor from our Father to us. God expects us to extend this grace to others around us. We were created with a purpose. God has specific intentions for our lives when He brought us into the world. Our main purpose is to know Him, worship Him, and glorify Him. Once we do this we can then engage in other good works that will bring glory to God, as well as growth in our faith.
"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
~Mathew 6:14-15
“What you are is God’s Gift to you; What you do with yourself is your gift to God” -Danish Proverb
As we use what God has given us, we then start discovering our shape in Christ. Becoming accessible to our gifts and abilities through the grace that our Lord has given us, causing us to carefully explore who we are. When we look back and examine our experiences we can then extract the lessons meant to learn. This will make you more in tuned with Christ and you will become more self-empowering. We must start looking at ourselves the way that God sees us. Making every effort to acknowledge self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and most of all love. We must forever increase these gifts. These qualities were given to us all and will keep us from becoming ineffective and fruitful in knowing the Lord. If we lack these qualities or gifts given to us we become near sided, and blinded in the knowledge of what god has created us to be. We then start to forget that our sins are cleansed. So, we must learn to be diligent in our calling, otherwise we will be likely to stumble and fail. Being diligent and more preserving in the knowledge of the Lord, abundantly gives us the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. God’s main goal is to have his kingdom fulfilled in and through us. When you start seeing yourself the way that God sees you, then we can ask the holy spirit to help us see our brothers and sisters in Christ the same way. God has designed us to make a difference with our lives. Scripture reminds us that God’s divine power is given to us to live and have a life good deed. We were put on this earth to contribute. By the power of God nothing can hold us back.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
~2 Corinthians 12:9
This does not mean that we can make excuses for our weaknesses, let alone continue to pick up those weaknesses. God broke those chains when we accepted his promises, gifts and love. In Romans 8:38-39, It doesn’t mention our past, Why? because our past is dead and gone, once God forgives our sins he then no longer remembers them so why should we. It’s not only for our sake that he doesn’t remember, but it is also for his sake. Sinful behavior may be easy, but to tell you the truth it’s not natural when you’re living spiritually. When we start having faith and trusting God the denial of reality becomes existent but does not involve repeating a mantra of doubts. We must start discovering the secrets of true spirituality and the unshakable identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ is based on your rebirth not your behaviors. Stop basing your identity on achievements, feelings, or opinions of others. God has called us to live gratefully in awareness of our identity in Christ. God is trying to help transform us into his image, purifying us to enjoy the shape that God has given us. Our goal should be to stay in the boundaries that God has called us too, reconciling the lost to him. We must be sure to do as God asks, in reward we will reap the satisfaction of what we have done, no longer comparing ourselves to anyone else. When we start comparing ourselves and competing against fellow brothers and sisters, we begin to miss the whole point of living for Christ.
“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves, when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves that are not wise.”
~2 Corinthians 10:12
Start concentrating on doing your best for God, the work that we won’t be ashamed off. We are not living for Christ for a gold medal, which in the end tarnishes and fades away. Were Living for Christ because were after the satisfaction of eternity. Everything that we do, we should be doing to get ready for our eternal responsibilities and rewards. But not only that but also for the satisfaction that we saved and reconciled as many souls as we could bringing glory to our father.
“Be diligent to present yourselves approved by God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly divided in the word of truth.”
~2 Timothy 2:15
This is where servanthood comes in. When we serve others we are then serving God, revealing the maturity in our hearts for Christ. Real servants do what is needed even when it becomes inconvenient. Interruptions are always a divine appointment for us to minister. Every time that we have the opportunity to do good, we must exercise our gifts and do it for everyone, especially for the family of believers. We must learn to pay attention to the needs of others and be happy for the opportunity to practice serving in the glory of God. Doing good and using our gifts means doing it in all the ways that we can, in all the times that we can, and to all the people that we can. Real servanthood is doing the best with what we have. Not making excuses, procrastinating, or waiting for a better circumstances or opportunities. If we wait for perfect conditions it will never happen. We must learn to exercise doing every task with much dedication. Doing it with all our heart, because the size od the task is irrelevant. Becoming a servant in the Lord is one of the most vital parts of our character. Don’t think that your too important to help someone in need, believing that is only fooling yourself. Even the small services that we do is helping us grow like Christ. God expects us to follow Jesus’s examples. A servant’s heart is revealed in even the littlest acts that most people don’t even think about doing. God often disguises great opportunities in those small tasks. Doing this produces faithfulness, trustworthiness and makes u dependable. Becoming a faithful servant is a rare quality and at times can become exhausting, But God promises to reward your faithfulness in eternity.
“The lord said to him, ‘Well done good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over few things, I will make you ruler over many things, enter into the joy of the Lord.”
~ Mathew 25:23
I’m not saying that we’re going to heaven because of the work’s that we do. What I’m saying is that the gifts that God has given us we need to use them. God does not give us gifts for us to neglect them, these gifts are given to us for a purpose. That purpose is to glorify God. We are not acting to impress others. We each will receive gifts, but we are told not to become prideful, and only serving to impress how spiritual we are. Doing this is no way to get a reward in heaven let alone in heaven. If we are trying to please man we are not being a servant of the Lord and walking in Christ. Become content with quietly serving in the shadows, because the most significant service is the unseen service. God will put you were your supposed to be for a reason and a purpose. Learn to throw yourselves into the works of our father, becoming confident that nothing we do is a waste of time or effort.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
~ 1 Corinthians 15:58
See when we believe in Christ alone for everlasting life, we are then accepted by God. No matter what we have done or not done, we are accepted. Many people these days are afraid that God has accepted everyone but them. Believing that God associates acceptance with performance. But that’s the thing, God doesn’t acceptance us based on our performances. In fact, it’s not really based on anything you do. It’s based on who He is and what Jesus did. God says: “You are acceptable because I created you, love you, and sent my Son to die for you.” Titus 3:7 God sent his sone JESUS to save us from our sins, in doing this he is treating us much better than we deserve. Sending Jesus has made us acceptable to God, giving us hope of eternal life. We are admired by God and have His full and unconditional love.
So, remember stay STRONG, stay COMMITED, and stay FOCUSED.
The lord’s faithful servant,
Tinisha
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