Sometimes I feel like I am in a carnival, standing in front of one of those curved mirrors that distort the way I look. You know, the mirror that would take my 6 ft. frame and make me look about 4 ft. tall. How easy it is to look at ourselves, as Groeschel stated in chapter 2, through the lens of our past. Some people continue to identify themselves by sins they have done in the past. So how would that make them a “Christian Atheist?”
Take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and you’ll see how identifying ourselves by our past mistakes causes us to live as though God doesn’t exist. After naming a bunch of sins that the people used to do, he concludes by saying – “And that is what some of you WERE, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Paul goes on to show that they are no longer what they were because of Christ and His sacrificial death for them. So, TO IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH OUR PAST SINS IGNORES ALL JESUS HAS DONE FOR US, even if we believe He exists. No longer an immoral, a drunk, a thief, a gossip – now we are washed, made righteous before God and God sees us as though we have never sinned (justified). To avoid being a Christian Atheist, we must start looking at ourselves the way God looks at us!
So, do you see yourself like God sees you or are you standing in front of the carnival mirror? All the things of the past that we regret are gone if we believe in what Jesus did for us on the cross.
I like the carnival illustration!
when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior remember that old things have passed away all things have become new, your past is gone forgotten your present life with Jesus is all that really matters now, live your life for Jesus not for yourself and you will see the power of God at work.
I’m reminded of a song. (I can’t help it… there’s a song in my heart for everything!)
“Heal the wounds, but leave the Scar”
The write wishes that she could take her past, and all that it was, and what it did to her, and erase it. But realizing that past is what has brought her to where she is; she asks God to heal the wounds, but leave the scars. Because they are a reminder of what it was that brought her to her knees to receive the grace of God. And to transform her to the person that she is now. I heard that song and could so deeply relate to it.
I avoid mirrors…. but in a physical sense. I want to see what God sees in me. To remind myself of what I was, and look forward to what He is going to do with me. He is the potter; I am the clay. I want to be able to look upon the scars of trial and error, and see what the potter is making me to be!
I used to identify by my past sins and felt that was who I was..When I got saved I was able to release my past and claim a new life in Christ..I still sometimes think of my past sins, especially ones I commited after I got saved, but I always end the thought with the knowledge that I have been washed and made new by the blood of the lamb….