We Are a New Creation

So, I really thought that I really understood what forgiveness was about, and that I was able to accept the forgiveness that is given through Christ. Well, apparently, I still have some set backs to this. I let other people judge me way too easily. Not that I let them judge me, but its that I allow their judgement to control how I feel about myself. And of course, how I feel about myself is connected to my relationship with Christ. If you don't know me, I allow my feelings to control me at times. Anyways, I love the school that I go to, and I love the Christian environment that I have there. But at times, I feel very different. I feel like my past sometimes just turns others off. I never even realized that others could determine some of my past by just the way that I acted. This is something that I most definetely want to change. Another thing that I want to change is how I allow others to control how I feel. I know that I am forgiven. I dont need other people to tell me whether I am really forgiven or not. Paul said in 1 Corinthians that if anyone was in Christ, He was a new creation. My favorite part of that verse is where it says that the OLD is GONE and the NEW has COME! Exciting stuff to me! So, why is it so hard to allow the thoughts of others to control me? I can be myself without others thoughts of me effecting me. Most definetely something that I need to work on, though!

Hallelujah and amen! Indeed, we are a new creature in Christ when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior and the old is gone and the new has come. The sad part of human nature is that we are quick to let what others say about us have more affect on us than that which our Lord has spoken to us! God's Word also tells us that God's mercy is new every morning. We are all "a work in progress", be perfected day by day as we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit to teach and guids us to be those new creatures. Even in our Christian walk we will mess us but God doesn't turn His back on us and consider us hopeless. No! He is quick to forgive our sins as we confess them to Him, reminding us that His mercy is ready and waiting for us each morning.

Naja, realizing that you are forgiven gives you a head start on having the ability to forgive others for the things they say and do and in not taking it so personal. Several years ago I heard a tape by Heidi Baker, a missionary in Mozambique, entitled "God Wants to Kill You." The teaching was not that God wanted to kill us literally, but that He wants our flesh to "die", to step down so His Spirit in us can rise up and Christ can flow through us. If we die to self in that sense, then the things others say about us will not affect us because a "dead man (now alive in the spirit) cannot feel pain or rejection, hurt, sorrow, etc. That is my desire, that I would so totally submit to Him that my own life takes a back seat. Not there yet and I know I have a long way to go. And it is in knowing how weak my flesh is and yet He forgave me and loves me that has so melted my heart in loving others though they might have flaws and weaknesses. I can love them because He first loved me and it is His love that I want to flow out from me to others.

You're on the right road, Naja, and He is proud of you!