Who Am I in Christ?- How God see us Pt. 2

In this series, we are exploring Who I Am in Christ- viewing ourselves as God does! First, we explored having a right relationship with God as He has written in the Bible. Link to Part 1 Second, we will renew our view of ourselves by seeing how God views us as his people. And Third, we will explore how a God view of us affects how we relate to and commune with others. I will be using Romans 12 as my base but will explore more verses as well. This was laid on my heart this last year as we studied this in BSF.

        Welcome to Part 2 of this series of realigning our hearts, spirits, and minds to help us be more like God, having a good relationship with Him, seeing ourselves and others through His eyes, and relating that to how we commune with others. We have just realized that a relationship with God, the vine, is an all in mentality or nothing. We are connected to the vine to remain in Me, or we are not in the best alignment to the source that we could be straining the nourishment we need. After reconnecting to the source, which I find I need to be reminded of so many times and am so grateful for his grace and mercy towards me to forgive me over and over again, having this mind transformation to see ourselves and others through God's eyes is such an important part of this journey. As I grow in God, I find that my flesh and humanity step in so much through pride, control, and so many areas that I have found that trying to see others through my eyes only is a foggy lens. Transforming my vision takes time, focus and the right lenses to help my eye's muscle memory to gain strength. So I use God's Word and his truth to see myself and others. The first verse I have found to set me with God's lense is Romans 12:3.

For by the grace was given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3 NIV

     Paul has for years been a guiding voice to my humanity. When he writes to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians ect., He speaks the Words of God given him with such clarity and so straightforward it gets straight into my heart. My flesh cries to be proud and arrogant daily. My choices to watch TV or read my Bible, to take time to pray or sit and look at my phone. It also takes a step further and I find myself taking pride in my abilities, gains, and talents all of which were given to me by God. Paul responds to this  "What do you have that you did not receive?"  Boom, even what my flesh considered pride in a "good" thing was simply human pride or false humility. We are to think of ourselves with sober judgment or a faith-filled thinking. In our BSF time this last year studying Romans our BSF writers have written about this topic saying for us to remind ourselves that,

 "I am made in God's image able to respond and relate to God. I am filled with God's Spirit. God is with me through the problems and pressures I will face today. I am part of God's plan. Therefore, what I do today has significance eternally."  (BSf 2017)

        What a lens to see me through. I am not my own but bought with a price. My heart, mind, and eyes need to yield to God as the all-powerful and see my daily life as purposeful and eternally significant. God made us. He values us. He calls us to his purpose.

       Second, Paul said that we are to live with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has given us. Each of us has been given a measure of faith. Talents or gifts that are for God's purpose and given to us to be used for His good not our own. We are then empowered by God through these gifts to show the world Jesus' amazing glory. I find that I misuse these gifts to give glory to me to show how much I can do but God gives us these gifts because he loves us and for us to use them for His calling, to show the world who He is. I have been praying through this deeper understanding of these gifts in my life that God would forgive my wrong use of them and show me how to use them as He desires. This small change in my heart has allowed me to begin practicing how to see myself and my God-given gifts as a purposeful eternal calling and not just "look what Molly can do".  Lord, I thank you for the renewal of my mind again calling me to have true humility in myself seeing myself through your eyes, a daughter of the king whose called to worship you and bring your glory to others. Help me to see your gifting in my life, whether prophesying, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership or mercy, as purposeful every day because of your great calling on your children. Give me the wisdom to clear out the fleshly desires to allow the freedom of living in your truth to fill my whole self. In the name of Jesus. Amen

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:1-2

  Along with this huge calling to humble myself, I love this verse that Paul writes to the Ephesians calling them to be worthy of the calling. WOW, this statement sends me to my knees and then out the door. I think, what has God called me to do that I have said no to or ignored so often? Like my children, and have been one myself, they do not always listen and obey. This is a practice of theirs, and mine to remind them of this truth to obey their mother and father but more importantly obeying God the FIRST time. As I struggle and pray to build them up in the way they should go, I often get frustrated by the patience needed to work on these traits for years it feels like but how much more I am reminded that God himself is the quintessence of patience having to deal with me for 30 plus years. My heart needs adjustment and my mind needs clearing and practice to say YES lord I will go, do, say, pray, and be all who you are calling me to be. I need to be reminded of this often, and so I am reminded of how this feels through being a parent.  Lord, forgive me for not being worthy of the calling. I lay down my sins before you and ask for forgiveness again. Renew my heart to hear you often and obey eveytime. Forgive me for being the opposite to my children too. For being impatient, lacking in gentleness towards them. I want them to see you through how I love them. May my lens be renewed toward my family and others so I can see them in your eyes! Amen

 May God refresh your view of yourself through His eyes. Join me soon for Pt. 3 of this refreshing journey.