Why do we believers sometimes do the things we don't want to do? Why do our children disobey us when they know better, even though we have taught them and trained them to do right? When they get around other children and act like fools, we as parents sometimes ask: Why? And then, why do we sometimes start to think we are bad parents because our children are disobedient? The list could go on and on.
When I was praying about this the other day, I realized that one of the roots goes back to forgetting who we are in Christ.
James 1:22-25
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
2 Cor. 3:18
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
a. Or reflect
When we behold Christ in prayer - we are actually reflecting the Lord's glory, and being transformed into his image. That means the glory of the Lord is in us and reflects from us!
When we start to get our identity from what anyone else says about us, or from what the enemy says about us - we have forgotten who we are in Christ. When we allow others to tell us who we are instead of God, we have forgotten what we look like and have just raised them above what God says about us. When we make what someone else, our self, or the enemy says about us more important than what God says about us, it is a form of idolatry! Only God has the legitimate right to tell you who you are!
Here is what you look like in Christ.
1. God's dearly-loved child
2. Perfect, Righteous, Holy, Pure, spotless
3. A child of light, not a child of darkness
4. The light of the world
5. Inheritors of all God's great and precious promises
6. A new creation
7. Full of power and love from the Spirit of God
8. Overcoming, overwhelmingly-conquering saints
9. Blessed with abundance beyond compare. Filled with life to the full and overflowing.
I believe the root of sin is forgetting who we are in Christ. When we forget who we are in him, we begin to separate from him and function from the flesh. When we know deep within who we are, we will not act independently of him.
Along with Adam and Eve, Jesus faced the same temptations we do from the enemy and from others. For Adam and Eve, the temptations from the Devil were not only to get them to doubt God's nature and character, but to get them to believe Lies about themselves. In Jesus' Temptation, notice the words Satan used in Matthew 4:3 & 6. "If you are the Son of God" The Devil wanted Jesus to take a shortcut and function independently of his nature and identity. He wanted Jesus to function independently from God as his Father, and his identity as the Son of God to make things happen prematurely and illegally.
When other people wanted to make Jesus their King prematurely, he would have no part of that either. The opinions of the masses did not sway him from who he was and what he was called to accomplish.
When we are secure in our identity, traps like shortcuts, sin, pride, and what others think about us will have no root.
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