Authenticity — Do You Even Know Who You Are
It’s time for Christians to face the truth and get happy.
Authenticity is being true to yourself, honest, and genuine in your words and actions.
You can be a happy Christian by embracing authenticity. Yes, you can. But you need to know who that really is, right?
On the human journey, people without God do what they have to do to cope with this sometimes hostile life with the tools they have.
Even those with a seemingly good life still cope without the source of life. The alternatives are not good.
On top of that, humans have deep desires and need for safe relationships and closeness with others who can be trusted with our best and worst impulses.
Dr. Andrew Farley says that “the flesh” is how people cope in this world instead of God—doing all kinds of sinful things to fill the void meant for God.
Sadly, this is how many Christians live after their new spiritual birth. Everyone does the best they can. I can attest to this: It sucks.
There is a better way. We can have our minds re-wired to match our new selves!
You Are A New Creature
You’re no longer without God. It’s no longer just you. It’s you and Christ! He made you free of the flesh ways to live and live to His ways!
… you WERE DEAD in your transgressions and sins,.. Eph.2:1(NIV)
then … You WERE washed, You WERE sanctified, You WERE justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That means you WERE and still ARE all of those things. 1Cor.6:11
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come! Cor. 2:5a(NIV)
So, obviously: The old ways will NOT work for a new you in Christ.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you and develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2(TheMessage)
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He wasn’t kidding. As you are being renewed in your mind, you will not hear how you messed up, or you have to start over or lose all your glory bucks. God saved you for Himself, and He isn’t letting you go.
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38(NLT)
Be happy and thankful for what He has made you in Christ!
Bonus video: What part of your being is the real you?
