I
was born with a melancholy personality. With this temperament I inherited a
very thoughtful, analytical, creative, respectful, non-aggressive persona who
is very naively accepting, self-sacrificing to a fault, and very sensitive to
the moods and needs of others.
I
am a very loyal friend in spite of the distance or time between visits. I try
to make everything perfect and everyone happy. I put myself second to everyone
else, and I often neglect my own needs.
On
the other hand, my natural inclination is to be very moody, irritable,
insecure, fearful, claustrophobic, easily depressed, pessimistic, critical and
suspicious. At times, I struggle with bitterness, I hold onto grudges, and I am
often intolerant.
I
need order and equilibrium in my life. I prefer making plans and I do not like
surprises. I can do things on the spur of the moment, unless it threatens my
security in some way. I am fussy over details, and I like to have a place for
everything and to have everything in its place.
On
top of all of these impediments, I grew up in a dysfunctional home. As a child,
I allowed others to walk all over me. My Father’s volatile rage and my mother’s
emotional distance kept me quiet as a mouse and just as fearful.
In
my teenage years, however, I learned to protect myself by hiding behind anger.
I started to stick up for myself; and when people would not take me seriously,
I used anger to make them pay attention to what I needed. Of course, this did
not work very well, because I ended up hurting people in the process.
When
I called upon Jesus to save me in my 18th year of life, He moved in and spent
the next several decades transforming who I am into who He is (Romans 8:29).
Now, Christ in me is my hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). The Holy Spirit
sanctifies all of us more and more over each moment throughout our life.
Each
day we see less of who we are and more of who He is within us (John 3:30).
Those who know me can attest to the fact that I would no longer be considered a
melancholic person. This is because as I decrease, Christ increases within me
(John 3:30).
Over
the years of our walk with the Lord, the Holy Spirit slowly replaces in us the
negative attributes of our personality with His spiritual fruit (Galatians
5:22-23). He uses our strengths for His glory, and He transforms our
shortcomings.
He
gives us:
love
– affection for others
joy
– exuberance about life
peace
– serenity
patience
– willingness to stick with it
gentleness
– compassion from the heart
goodness
– kindness that pervades our entire being meekness – humility and service
self-control
– guided by the Holy Spirit
and
faith – trust that God knows what He is doing.
(Galatians
2:20, 5:16; Romans 8:14)
God
enlarges our comfort zone, and we can do anything according to His will,
because He strengthens us to accomplish everything He calls us to do
(Philippians 4:13). We no longer live for our self, but Christ is living in and
through us (Galatians 2:20).
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, thank You for releasing us from the bondage of our personality. You make
melancholy people joyful, choleric people peaceful, phlegmatic people
industrious, and sanguine people focused. By Your Spirit You transform our
lives into something beautiful.
You
lead us each step of every day, and You fill us with the power and the desire
to do Your will in every situation. We give You the praise, honor and glory for
all of the successes in our life. Thank You for transforming our life from
self-centered and self-seeking, to Christ-centered and God-seeking.
Thought
for the Day:
We
may still struggle with the negative characteristics of our personality - they
are there, influencing how we feel and what we do; however, by the power of
God's Spirit within us, they no longer control us, and we can easily put them
aside and walk in the Spirit at any moment, in order to accomplish God’s will
for our life.
