God has something that He wants to do in my life. He wants to totally change me to become like Him. “God knew them before he made the world, and he chose them to be like his Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:29 (NCV). And He is more than able to do that. But if all I see is how I am as a person, how things have been in the past, my own sinful nature, family “sins” that I inherited, if I just accept that this is how I am, and think I cannot do anything about it, then I’m limiting God. Then He can’t change me.
Admit the truth and have faith!
It’s true that I have to admit the truth about how I am. I see how it is now, yes. But then I need to have faith. I have to see how it can be if I give myself to God. It isn’t me who is going to do it myself, but God is going to do things in me. But then I have to be willing to give 100%. I have to change my attitude of just accepting who I am to an attitude of having faith. “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.” Hebrews 11:1 (NCV).
It’s written in Jeremiah 29:11 (AMP): “’For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” If I believe that these are God’s thoughts for me, then I need to have the same thoughts for myself. Yes, it is true that maybe I have certain “sins” that cling closely to me. But just because it is that way now, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. God will help me and give me the tools and the power to overcome those things if I don’t let my human reasoning and my own human thoughts hold me back. If I have faith in Him and hope for the future.
“You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way, a way passed down from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb.” 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NCV).
He works with me personally and in a personal way. So, I can’t look around and see how He is working with others and compare my own life to them. They have to be obedient to do what God wants them to do and to be who God wants them to be, and I have to do the same.
God can create something new in me
And maybe it can seem like it would take a miracle to change me from who I am. I know myself and I know that there are things that seem like they are impossible to change. But don’t we serve a God of miracles? The God who is the Creator of all things can create something completely new in me. I just have to be willing and believe.
Jesus came and He showed us the way. I have to deny myself, I have to say No when I am tempted to sin, the sin that comes up from my sinful nature. I have to give up my own will. I have to humble myself. I have to hold on to God’s word.
And when I feel that I can’t do it, then I need to believe these words: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.’ … Then Christ’s power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NCV).
And then changes start to happen in my life. I become free. I discover that I don’t have to stay who I am by nature. In situations where I once would have reacted in a certain way, I don’t have to react like that anymore. Instead I can react with the fruit of the Spirit. I can be who God wants me to be. I become happy when my thoughts stop being all about myself, and I start to think God’s thoughts.