As You Think

They can because they think they can.  Virgil

Virgil wasn't quoting the Bible but his words are reflective of the scriptural admonition, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7.  There is a profound truth in our ability to mold and shape who we are, who we want to become, by the thoughts we think about ourselves.

While there is no place for arrogance or self-righteousness within the bosom of a believer in Christ, there is every reason for those who know Him and name Him as Savior and Lord to affirm that they are new creatures.  "Old things are passed away.  All things are become new," II Corinthians 5:17.  There is every reason for the blood-bought saint of God to rest in the truth that, "…though your sins be scarlet, they are washed white as snow," Isaiah 1:18.

When we affirm that there is nothing held to our charge when we allow the free gift of Jesus Christ to be applied to our account, then we have every reason to take our place in the roll call of people of faith who have been transformed by the renewing of their minds and the deliverance of their souls.

We become the usurper, Jacob, who was given the privilege of being the progenitor of the line that would produce the Messiah (Genesis 25:29-34).  We become Rahab whose family was saved by the scarlet thread (Joshua 2:18).  We become the adulterer, David (II Samuel 11), of whom the Word says that the Promised One will be his Son (II Samuel  7:12-17).  We become Paul, persecutor of the faithful (Acts 1:9) until his life was turned around when he met the Lord (Acts 9:1-9) .

Because we know we have been literally snatched from the jaws of spiritual death, we become proponents of the faith who reach out to others with Jesus' salvation message.  We boldly proclaim that we are new.  We humbly affirm that we no longer wrap ourselves in self-righteousness because we have humbly received the Lord's robe of righteousness that He has placed around us.

We no longer think like forlorn, lost souls but we have the mind of Christ! (I Corinthians 2:16)  We think like the blood-bathed saints that we are!  We think like the conqueror of death, hell and the grave that Jesus has allowed us to become!  And we share His life-changing, eternity-changing truth with everyone whose life touches ours so they, too can have their minds renewed and their lives transformed.

Walk in the light of Whose you are today and always.  As the Word says, "Forgetting those things that are behind, I press toward the mark of my high calling in Jesus Christ,” Philippians 3:13.  Be strong in the Lord.  Be resolute in faith.  Remind yourself every day that "Jesus will never fail you nor forsake you," Hebrews 13:5.  Remind yourself every day that "God is love," I John 4:8, and that HE LOVES YOU!