Who I Am In Christ Devotionals

  Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.” For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. Luke 9:22-24 Being a believer has not always been a euphoric sled ride for me nor a walk on a sunlit beach. And maybe I thought it would be, or it was supposed to be, but if I thought those things, I wasn’t really paying attention.  Being a believer involves discipline.  And I’ve been disciplined. Umm… Sort of.  This is the part where I need to be careful, careful in what I say. This is the get-a-speck-out-of-your-brother’s eye, get-the-plank-out-of-your-own-eye part.  Being a disciple of Jesus, a follower, is not about hitting all of the boxes on the checklist. I did this. I did that. It’s about a

    …take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. Ephesians 4:22-24 I Can Be Renewed in My Mind! The Holy Spirit works on me, changing me to be like Jesus. He is making me new. Believers need reminders that this is happening. I do. And I love being reminded of it   I like how the Living Translation says to “throw off” my old sinful self. Throw. Be active in this. Work it out. Throw that junk off. Why? It’s corrupted by lust. Evil desires. That’s flesh. Romans 8 talks about believers setting our minds on the things of the Spirit versus the things of the flesh. I must work at this. And to make matters worse, the verse says I can deceive myself. I must throw off my sinful nature which is corrupted by lust and deception. This is serious, right? I must pay attention. If I don’t, I can find mysel

  Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. “Here we are, coming to you, for you are the Lord our God. Jeremiah 3:22 Repair Even believers sometimes act like faithless children. God knows me. He has made a way to repair the relationship between Him and me. It is centered in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. But it didn't stop there. It's interesting that (at least in this translation) the verb for dealing with faithfulness is healing. Healing. Not punishing. Not breaking. Not Ignoring... Healing. But I must be careful. This healing is for me when I return, not before. Return. What a beautiful word. We see this over and over again in the scripture. When His children come to Him wanting clean hearts, he responds with healing. Mustard Seed Steps The tragedy is that so few actually come to Him. The message is this: I must not run from Him. And I don't need to fix everything first (but I need willingness). Sometimes I can be in so deep, all