Friends, Can we just have an honest conversation here?
Grab some coffee and let's chat a little bit.
I do not know about you but I love to have honest conversations with friends, family, and people in general. In all honesty, I am the kind of person that is blunt and straight forward that likes to get the point.
However, what I cannot stand is dishonesty or lying. Now let me be frank this includes myself in conversations that I have with myself and God daily.
This brings me to the main point which is when we lie to ourselves that we can find our identity outside of Christ will bring happiness is completely false. There I said it because someone needed to say it.
The world and the culture want us to believe that happiness and satisfaction are found in ourselves. And the world wants us to also believe that self-love can solve the world's problems, along with it can also be able to help us find ourselves. This is completely false as well.
We find who we are in Jesus because in Jesus our identity is in Him alone not the world. It is also not in what we say or do, or the occupation we choose to do for a living.
Most importantly, when we invite Jesus into our hearts we know and recognize Him instantly. Because He becomes our shepherd besides our savior. Also, the more we press into the presence of God we get to know more of His loving character.
Let me remind you God is a loving and good God who cares. God cares about those He loves and He loves everyone because He created all of us in His image. God is not out of touch or ignorant of what is going on in this world and what is happening to His children.
Now let me jump back to the point about being in the presence of God. The more we press into God's presence the more we become like Him, because we are drawing closer to God. And the more we draw closer to God the more we realize we have no condemnation in Christ Jesus that we are made new.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law. Weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. he condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."(Romans 8:1-4ESV).
Furthermore, we realize our identity and worthiness are in Jesus not in this lost world. Besides, when we realize Jesus is our heavenly Father we gain peace of mind. Plus, the peace we gain lets the fears and doubts fall away. It is an assurance we gain in Christ Jesus that gives us peace in knowing we are made new in Christ.
In all honesty, yes we will and do have to combat fear and doubt when it comes right at us. However, the assurance we gain and have in Christ that we are grafted into the royal bloodline of Christ by becoming heirs with Christ, once we accept God as our savior by accepting salvation and confessing our sins to God is unbelievable.
We not only gain eternal life we gain a heavenly Father that will not leave us nor will He forsake us. Instead God our heavenly Father becomes a steadfast love that nothing can separate us from.
We are raised to life from the dead in Christ and made new. He has taken away the old self and given us new life. Thus, we need to leave the old behind and walk in the new self that Christ has transformed. And we are God's children choose and set apart to bring Him glory.
Moreover, we cannot find ourselves outside of God. And we cannot biologically change who God created us to be in our mother's womb. The beauty He created us in and with, is with a divine purpose to display His love. But also to display His glory.
What gets me is this infatuation with finding ourselves outside of God in this world and culture that does not make sense. It is empty and ruthless that brings no joy or happiness. All I see is sadness, anxiety, depression, unhappiness, and distraught people who cannot seem to figure out why they are so happy.
On the other hand, I see Christians come and go who think or believe they are doing things to serve God well, but are not trusting God to provide so they believe they had to prove to everyone and God that we can survive or make enough money to be self-sufficient on their own. But end up miserable because they are only proving they cannot do things on their own.
It is not just the unsaved world that gets things wrong and looks outside of God to find meaning and purpose in life. Christians get it wrong too. I have gotten it wrong and looked outside of God to find purpose or love.
Yet, in the end, I was miserable and empty. It was not until I admitted to God and myself by stopping the lying to myself that I needed God's help to remove the old stains of insecurity to get me to see the truth my identity is in Christ.
So this phenomenon of searching for a purpose outside of God is not working and not helpful. And self-love addicts are not helping people instead they are leading people down a dark empty path that leads to regret and resentment because people want a quick fix. This is the complete opposite of sanctification through the work of the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus.
Whereas in Jesus we can flourish in the new identity He has given us. However, the work of sanctification does take time to be worked out in us.
However, to flourish we have to be honest with ourselves and with God. We have to be willing to admit that we need help that we cannot do it by ourselves. The point that I want to make is being self-sufficient will get us nowhere. Being sufficient in Christ is where we will flourish the most and where we can be the most honest as well.
Let me be frank again, the world will tell us that we can rely on no one because they are untrustworthy however, God has proven Himself the most trustworthy of all because He never changes.
Also, the world tells us that if we want to find ourselves we have to either go somewhere to find ourselves or that we have to look inside of ourselves.
All this does is mislead us down a spiral of a misconception of lies. The only thing we find in ourselves with this mentality is brokenness and pride. Instead of walking down the road less traveled of humility with God that brings peace.
In the end, our true purpose and identity are in Jesus not of this world. And when we look outside of God for our purpose we will be left empty. Yet, in God, we will never be left empty. God always provides what we need when we need it.
God always provides a way and He always provides the truth, because He is the truth.
God will never lead us in the wrong direction.
References:
English Standard Version Study Bible (2008) Crossway Publishing, Wheaton ILL,
Picture by: wix.com
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