Viewing our self from God’s perspective will change our life. No longer hindered by self-deprecation or critical remarks from other people, we feel lighter, freer, more positive and have more energy. God’s Word is full of His opinion of us, and good advice on how to change our negative habits, hang-ups and hobbies.
Once we humble our self, admit our sinful state, walk away from known sin and trust Jesus with our life, our load of guilt and cares diminishes considerably (Romans 3:24). God sees us as perfected through Christ, and as His beloved adopted children (Hebrews 10:14; Ephesians 1:5-9).
Jesus, as a human being, had every opportunity to give in to His fleshly nature, to follow His own human desires and instincts, and to rationalize His options throughout His lifetime. Yet, He always chose to obey our Heavenly Father’s directives during His perfect, sinless life.
Our poor choices and deviations from God’s will for us in the past, even as recent as yesterday or an hour ago, are forgiven once we ask for forgiveness. We do not need to submit to Satan’s shame for our behavior, but we make a commitment to walk in humble obedience in the future (Romans 8:1).
God’s grace and love cover our multitude of failings with the blood of Jesus, and He removes them from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). That is not the amount of space between one country’s borders to the other border, but the space around the globe from east to west – which has no boundaries at all; it is infinity.
Our forgiveness of our self, as well as those who cause harm to us, guarantees our forgiveness by God (Colossians 3:13). This may be easier to imagine than to actually do it, but God’s grace is always available to us in order to give us the strength to walk in His Truths (Proverbs 24:16).
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for not remembering our sins anymore, and for setting us free from the bondage they cause in our life. You forgive us, redeem us, and perfect us by Your Holy Spirit - calling us Your friend and child (John 15:15-17; 1 John 3:1). You welcome us into Your family with open arms, loving us unconditionally and completely. We are so sorry that our sins sent Jesus to the cross, and we are eternally grateful for His willing sacrifice for us all.
We are also grateful to You for Your unchanging Word (Matthew 4:4; Isaiah 40:8; Proverbs 30:5), and for its encouragement to walk in the safety of Your precepts, to realize our value in Christ, which enables us to gain insight into the reason behind the chaos in our world, and to enjoy Your peace and hope for our future (Jeremiah 29:11). We trust in You with our whole heart, and we look in every trial for the seed for a miracle, which You plant within every circumstance we face (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Thought for the Day:
The scientific and medical communities have actually seen the positive effect, that meditating on the truths of God’s Word promotes in our physical and mental health, our quality of life, our positive outlook on our circumstances, and the measure of our direction, contentment and fulfillment as we walk in God’s purpose for us.
- Joshua 1:8; 2 Timothy 3:16-17
