Romans
12:2 “Do not conform to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect
will.
This last Sunday, Pastor
JJ started a new Sermon series titled “Identity Thief”. The search for “Who I
am?” is a basic investigate that all of us partake sometime, in the desire to
define who we are and find purpose in our life. The problem happens when we
create an image of ourselves by conforming to others and their thinking rather
than knowing the One who can and does answer the question: “Who am I?”
There is a danger that we
take a humanistic approach and focus on “self” and miss our worth and purpose
in life … what our Creator created us for. Though us and our life, God is
glorified in His purposes and plans in the redemption and salvation of the
world and we are invited to share it His glory. But the one thing to remember
is that redemption always has a price and God’s price for you and I cost Him
dearly because Christ’s redemption was paid by His precious atoning blood on
the cross for the sins of the world (1
Peter 1:18-19). Everyone belonged to God originally, but separated by sin,
God is in the process of redeeming all those who shall trust and believe by
faith in Jesus Christ. Satan is doing whatever he can to keep everyone possible
from that redemption and restoration.
Ephesians
2:1-8” As for you, you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, in
which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is
rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we
were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable
riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in
Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God.
The gospel truth will set
us free to focus on what God would have us to do and off of the distractions of
the flesh, the God-rejecting world and the devil. We are a new creation of
infinite worth. As a child of the King of the kingdom of Heaven ,
we don’t look to this world for our worth and purpose. We are deeply loved by our
Heavenly Father. God came down to have relationship with us, not because we are
worthless. Far from it! Worth is determined by how much someone is willing to
pay for an item. God sent His Son and Jesus paid the ultimate price of His life
for us … that’s how much we are worth to God and He is delighted in who we
are. It was His sacrifice, by His grace. Until the possibility of having
something ripped away and taken from us, we don’t realize just how much it
meant to us. When we know the depth of our redemption, complete forgiveness and
salvation by the blood of Jesus, we offer ourselves willfully in gratitude and
appreciation. We need to remember the truth of God’s promises and put our full
trust in Him and His Word. Embrace the truth of God, not the lies of this
world. Our worth is not determined by others, but by God’s acceptance. We are
fully pleasing and totally accepted by God. And we are absolutely complete in
Christ. That’s who we are!
1 Peter 2:10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no
mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
In Christ, Brian
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