loosing your identity. permenantly.

hola friends! how long has it been? sorry i haven't written in a while. there were quite a few things the Lord has been speaking to me on lately and i've intended to publish most of them. again, it's bad practice to not note something important down assuming you've got it all in your head.(unless you're that mad genius for the tv show; "suits"). it's even worse to not note down stuff God tells you. i mean think about it. imagine if those guys God chose to write the bible did the same thing. we would all be screwed. (then again, if they would have done that God wouldn't have chosen them all wouldn't He? haha.) i realize that i've been allowing myself to be negligent lately especially in areas of my life where i shouldn't be. but. this is not what i'll be blogging about tonight. whoops. i just made you read for a few seconds. oh well, food for thought..

so the other day, i had supper with a couple of  my friends. awesome food, awesome people. what a night. anyway, i had a chance to hear this friend of mine out on how she struggles with her 'old habits'. and when i say 'old habits' i don't mean those harmless ones like nail-biting or plucking out your baby hair. i'm referring to the stuff you normally do. stuff like getting mad at your mom for no apparent reason or harboring deep hatred towards someone for their lack of understanding. stuff the bible refers to as our actions when we once lived in ignorance. yup. i'm talking about those ungodly tendencies we all struggle with even after knowing Christ as our Lord and Savior. don't get me wrong. i'm definitely NOT saying it's alright to go back to your old way of living and default to those tendencies and urges. the bible tell us of how we are a new creation in Him. that means we are no longer the people we used to be when we did not know Jesus and lived in sin. the whole point of what Jesus did and had to go through was to make you clean and presentable before God. it was to cover you with the righteousness of Christ so that we may come back to God once more and enjoy a deep, everlasting and intimate relationship with Him. it was to make us pure and free from the things that kept us in bondage before.

so back to this friend of mine. she told me about her old habits and how hard it was to change from her previous self. and a part of me tells me that she's not sure how. so i tried telling her the only way i know how-by referring to the Word. in the bible, God tells us how should put on Christ as our new self-image. that means putting off our old-selves and making Christ our new, permanent identity. (our 'old-selves' includes our old practices and desires). by putting on Christ, we must act and live the way Christ did. and i'm not talking about the physical stuff like wearing a robe or anything like that. i'm talking about the spiritual examples Christ set for us when He lived on this earth. i'm talking about knowing who you are in God and living out His will to the fullest. apparently that's what Jesus did. even if it meant suffering to the point of death.  

i have my fair share of struggles when it comes to nipping my old habits in the butt. i know that i'm not righteous or perfect because if i am, i would be one with God by now. but i'm still here am i? =). the other day at church, this speaker shared on how the greatest goal God has for you in life is not to make you rich or have a successful, blooming career. no. His greatest goal for you was to make you like His Son, Jesus who is perfectly holy and righteous. and this means taking life-changing journey. let me be the millionth Christian to say that it hasn't been easy. at the same time, let me be one from the very few to tell you that it's worth it. don't worry about the habits you struggle with. we have a faithful high priest (Jesus) who has been through every point of trail and temptation as we did and more. so don't tell yourself that Jesus doesn't understand your pain or how hard it is as a human being. know by heart that we have a God who is bigger than our struggles and is more than able to aid us in our time of need. so let us not hesitate to approach the throne of grace and seek help. =)