This same principal applies to our spiritual growth. If we do not stop thinking and acting like the old person we were before Christ, we will never grow into the strong, faithful Christian we long to be. We need to see ourselves as the new person we are in Christ, let go of the old self, and live like the follower of Christ we want to be. The principle that we need to act like the person we want to be needs to resonant in our behavior. I remember a statement I heard a long time ago, that I hated, "If you want to be skinny, eat like a skinny person." I am finally starting to understand that principle. You will become the person you practice! How do you see yourself? Do you act like the old self you were before Christ? Or are you acting like the child of God that you are? It is my goal to act like the person I am, not the person I was! What is your goal?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (Message)
Okay, I had to look up the word burgeons! In case you are like me and need the definition, it is: to produce new growth, to flourish
2 comments:
It is true that old habits die hard! You have to work to change and sometimes it is a struggle but if you keep at it, it will be easier. Sometimes I see people from high school and they don't act all that happy to talk to me...for whatever reason. I know that I was different back then...a very new Christian and that I may not have treated them well and I wish that they could get to know the new me...but they are judging by the old me. It is hard to get people to see the "new" you.
How do we see ourselves .....hmm..we look at ourselves everyday, but do we really see the person others see? As far as weight, I never saw myself as overweight UNTIL I saw a picture someone took of me two years ago. Wow ...what a revelation. Now I am 30 lbs lighter and a happier person inside and out.
Do we see our spiritual selves the same way? Sometimes we need our christian friends 'showing' us what others see ..... good and bad and helping us along the way, then taking it for ourselves and growing into what God intended for each of us.
He has the power, we just need to plug into it.
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