What we DO comes from WHO we think we are:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Pr 4:23 NIV
Hi Friends, Diane here. Guard your heart…in other words, know WHO you are in Christ. If we are willing to believe what God says about us, that in Christ we are a NEW Creation, that our Identity has been changed the moment we surrender ourselves to Jesus, then we begin to understand that we are a saint and start acting like one, more and more. As I have often said, a saint is not someone who is perfect. A saint is someone WHO has The Perfect One living on their inside. Joined now and forevermore with the Holy Spirit, we have the potential to begin to act holy. Remember holy means to be set apart, or to be different. Different than this fallen, broken world for sure, but also different than who we used to be, and so, acting different too. Once our WHO is changed, our DO will change also…if we believe what God says about us.
Once we begin to believe we are New, we will begin to act new. Once we begin to believe our Identity has been made New, our behavior will catch up. WHO we are determines what we DO. Example: because I am a Pharmacist, I not only fill prescriptions, but I counsel patients on their health also. This does NOT work the other way around. Just walking over to someone and trying to counsel them about their medications is not what MAKES me a pharmacist. First, I become one, then my behavior, my actions, align with the identity. Are you getting the picture?
Cart in front of the horse. We humans continue to get things backwards all the time. We think what we DO defines us, but it is WHO we are that determines what we DO…and if we really want to be different, then we must believe WHO God says we are.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
30- Ro 8:1
31- Pr 4:23
<>< Peace, Diane
