Things change.
People change. Yet we are not
talking about just going along with life.
That is to say “going with the flow”, but I am speaking about
understanding the things that Jesus has done in my life and in yours.
Before you can believe the things God says are true, you
have to understand the things that are lies and untrue. God has changed us. That is a fact.
Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.
I was lost. Sin keeps us
lost, and sin has to be dealt with. This
is the underlining issue that all of us have being part from God. To live in sin means that we are completely
separated from God.
For
the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
For
the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.
That
is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM
who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.
I was
unrighteous. The opposite of righteous is unrighteous, but
you have to ask yourself what you base the standard of being right on. Is it by keeping the law? Is it by being as good as another person? If you base righteousness upon getting in to
heaven, we are all messed up. Without
God we cannot be and aren’t righteous even if we are a pretty good person.
as
it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one
Outwardly
you look like righteous people,
but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
I had no
hope. Do the right things. Have lots of friends. Make yourself successful. All those are good things, but have you ever
thought about this scenario? You have
all the money in the world but you learn that you are in the last stages of a
disease that is about to take your life.
All the money in the world that could buy the best health care and
treatments couldn’t heal you. At that
point you have no hope. Living without
God means the same thing. Without God
there is no hope.
In
those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from
citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant
promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without
hope.
I was not
good. You might say and believe you are a good
person. Others might convince you that
you are a good person, yet in the eyes of God and by His standards no one is
good. Even the best of the people fall
way short.
Beloved,
do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who
does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
Those things were true about me at one time. But I am changed. God changed me. As the first verse said, I am a new
creation. That is the work that only God
can and will do when we allow Him to live and work in our lives.
To know what is NOT true about me any more helps me
know who I am and believe the right labels that are on my life. May God help us see and believe the truth
about who we are.
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