Be a Bible...

Everyday, as we go about our routines, doing our jobs, taking care of our families, buying groceries, paying bills, running errands, taking the kids to ball practice or whatever it is our day holds...we are setting an example to everyone who sees us go about our day. This could be our neighbors, friends, check out clerk, a child we don't know, a child of our own, or someone behind us in the checkout line.

Question is... what kind of example are you setting? As a Christian, you should be setting a Christ like example, displaying humility and love, a willingness to help, a cheerful countenance... Just keep this in mind... For some people, YOU may be the only BIBLE THEY READ. That is an awesome responsibility and an awesome opportunity to spread the LOVE of CHRIST and HIS WORD without even opening your mouth! Make sure the pages of your life reflect the TRUTH of Gods WORD...  it's so easy to do! Be generous in your praise of others, be thankful to those who help and assist you, have joy in your heart as one of God's elect and let that joy shine for others to see, be humble, put others needs before your own, help and assist others whenever you can... and do it gladly! Show others that being a Christian is a happy, freeing, joyous place to be... and your example might win them over to the idea to!

I think its about forgiveness....

Ephesians 4:23  (ESV) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds

Like anything else, the first step to recovery, is admitting you have a problem! So, how do you know you have things you need to let go of? Some of it is easy... you know if you are angry with someone, if you hold a grudge, if you harbor hatred in your heart or even if you are just perpetually irritated by some family member. To me, the biggest problem was deep seated anger, which I guess amounted to a grudge... but for many years I felt it was justified, considering what had been done to me by that person.

As Christians, we change when we are saved and Baptised. We put on our “new man”. This means we are a NEW person in Christ. And we have to start living it. Our joy in the Lord should shine in our lives, and be evident in our every action and word!

It is so important to deal with your past issues... and lets face it, we all have past issues. Jesus died on the Cross to forgive our sins and give us new life, and a life of abundance. We cannot accept or obtain that if we are still living in or holding onto our past life, our past problems and the person we used to be before we were saved and washed clean by the blood of the lamb!! God has forgiven you! The hard part is forgiving yourself and forgiving the people in your life who have hurt you and wronged you. It is hard, but essential.

After being saved, the Lord will allow you some time to address and work through these things, to make amends and come to peace with the things that dwell in your heart. HE will guide you as you pray for guidance, and be a healing salve to the wounds of the past, BUT you have to do your part. You have to be willing to let go of the past, you have to be willing to take an honest look at why you were holding on to certain things from the past, and even certain people and you even have to be willing to examine relationships and evaluate how they are going to fit into your new life as a Christian.

If your past involved addictions, I urge you to pray hard for guidance, to reach out to people who can help you and to break ties with people who are also involved in such activities. I think it’s imperative for your well-being to be away from that influence until you a strong enough in your faith to decide if you can be around them without being tempted.

When you are ready, your testimony could lead them to Christ, but if you attempt it before you are strong enough, you could be opening yourself up to temptation you are not equipped to resist. I don’t pretend to be an expert on this kind of dependency, so please do seek out those who know more about the subject than I do.

For this first, brief installment on overcoming the past, let me leave you with this... pray and pray hard... for help in recognizing things you need to address, things you need to get rid of, things you need to forgive, and forget, and what the lessons are you need to learn from these trials. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and guide you on this journey.  This goes for forgive and forget scenarios as well as situations where you need to stop a bad habit... like smoking, over eating, an addiction to cookies, etc. Turn over to the Lord. If you do it with all sincerity, He will help you.

Phil 3:13-14  Forgetting those things that are behind.....

One thing that I do know about and that gives many new Christians so much trouble is the issue of forgiveness. When you’ve been hurt and damaged by friends and family members, it may seem impossible to forgive them. You can. First you have to understand what it means to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean that whatever they did to hurt you is okay, or that you are dismissing the wrong that was done. Forgiveness means that you are no longer going to harbor hatred and animosity towards that person, you are letting go of those negative feelings. You are not freeing them from their responsibility, you are freeing yourself from the negative feelings that are dragging YOU down and affecting your life, your thinking and your SPIRIT in a very negative way. The HOLY SPIRIT cannot bless you and dwell in you to the fullest when you have huge black spots of unforgiveness and bitterness on your heart. Once you let it go, you will see and feel the benefit of it, and it gets easier and easier because you don’t want that feeling in you!! You don’t want that weight on your spirit!

It is a process... sometimes forgiving someone can take some time.  Seek God’s comfort through prayer to expedite this process.  Don’t take too much time. And I caution you about over thinking it or over talking it. Repeatedly talking about a bad experience, past what it takes to work through it initially, is only the devils workshop and just keeps the experience alive, therefore keeping the bad feelings alive. This is not what you want. In order to forgive, you want to put the issue down, not repeatedly re-live it. With the Lord’s help, you can forgive those who’ve harmed and offended you.  And then you will have peace.

You might ask, “Why should I forgive them? Why should I let them off the hook? They did the wrong, not me!!” The reason is simple. The people who wronged you, the people who have you bound up and busy hating them, those people have most likely moved on. They aren’t “busy” wondering if you are hurting, or if you are mad or if they did you any damage! If they care to think on it, they know what they did. But they have moved on. It’s only YOU who are wasting your TIME, and YOUR ENERGY and YOUR EMOTIONS feeding a grief or an anger that is only eating at YOU! It doesn’t do them any harm at all. In the end, they will have to answer for their actions, and you for yours. The Bible tells us that we should forgive.

John 20:13  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

John 10:10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Phil 3:13-14  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

Ephesians 4:23  (ESV) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds

1 Corinthians 15:53 (ESV) For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Romans 8:11 (ESV)

11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[a] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 3:24-25 (ESV)  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.