do you ever walk away from conversations thinking HUH?!?
i feel like every time i turn around lately the conversation when describing how we are doing, someone will say something like “i’m broken” or “i am a sinner” or something along those lines. maybe not as an excuse but it sees to be where the constant focus is. the focus constantly is on how messed up and broken we are.
so there is truth to that. humans are broken. that is why we need a GREAT God. that is why we need to be rescued. before Jesus turns our heart to a heart of flesh and writes His truth on our hearts, we are broken. we are ruled by that brokenness.
but here is the thing…if you are a believer. if you have given God the reign on your life. if you have understood how desperately you needed a savior and asked Him to rescue you, you are no longer a sinner but a saint.
being a saint doesn’t mean you don’t sin. it doesn’t mean you can attain perfection. it doesn’t mean anything crazy like that but it does mean, however, that “whoever is in Christ, is a new creation…”. We aren’t the same thing anymore. one wise man who did a lot of study on this talked about how the word there doesn’t just mean like i was a fuji apple and now i am a honey crisp apple. it means more like i was an apple and now i am a cheetah.
we are a new creation. we are a different species. an entirely different species. we go from being sinners to being saints. saints.
so what about the sin that sinners commit?
this has been something i have thought a lot about. then earlier in 2015 i was listening to Graham Cooke. he talked about how we didn’t have a sin problem but a habit problem. this intrigued me so i decided to learn and study some. what i found fascinating was the study on habits.
“power of habit” was a great book on this topic. i won’t go into great depth on all that he said but one of the things that really struck me and made things make sense was the understanding that a habit is made of three things: cue, habit, reward. Once those things happen and a craving is associated with them, the brain checks out. the brain is no longer included in making the decisions.
this made so many things make sense!
i know that i am born again believer. i know i love Jesus with everything that is within me. i know that i would give my life to do it His way instead of my own way. what kept frustrating me was that i had this habit of choosing poor food. i had a habit of eating to cope with emotions i didn’t even know were going on. what do you do with that?
as i understood more of how the brain works, it makes sense that i want to change this sin but “i do the things i don’t want to do and the things i do want to do i don’t do.”
you see, we are saints. we have the capacity for amazing things. every book i have read on motivation or habits or anything of the like continues to say the same thing…when you think you are crap, you will act like crap. if you hate yourself, you don’t treat yourself well. if you associate yourself with a given sin, your focus is there and you will continue in it.
BUT…
when you walk in the true identity you gain as you are made into a new creation, your focus shifts. knowing and believing your identity, you give God room to transform those thoughts and beliefs and habits. i believe that is what paul was saying when he said “don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
the beautiful truth is with the power of Jesus in you and working through you, you have the power to change. you have the power to do it differently. you have the power to look more like Him.
