Defining Moments
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”
Psalm 139:15-16
I read something the other day on social media that said, “Jesus called Peter a, “Rock” long before Peter was stable and mature. The Father leads us by calling out what He sees, not calling out our failures.” Like the other 100 or so people who hit the little red heart icon, I liked it too. As I sat there pondering the statement I was asking myself if I liked it because it made me feel good or was it because it was true. After some careful study I determined, both. The statement gives us hope for our lives which should made us feel good but more important, the statement is biblically true. God sees us not just as we are but as we will ultimately be. Simply put, God starts with the end in mind. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it best, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Our lives are in a continual metamorphic state until the moment we are glorified together in heaven one day.
Some of the best examples I have found in reading my bible that God does in fact lead our lives by calling out what He sees are in Jeremiah 29:11 in the Old Testament and in Ephesians 2:10 in the New. It’s important to know the timing when Jeremiah reminded the children of Israel of God’s thoughts about them. Jeremiah penned those words while the nation of Israel was in Babylonian captivity. What comfort they would have as their captivity was coming to an end when they heard the words in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God was fully aware of the nation in their current state and yet He gave them hope that they would not remain in their current state as He had something far better for them. What was true for them is true for us!
In Ephesians 2:10, the apostle Paul reminds us of an amazing truth, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Before God spoke the world into existence He had you in mind! Your life, your very purpose, they were all determined before you were born. Romans 12:2 exhorts us to be forward thinking and living when the apostle writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” In other words, the apostle Paul is saying to devout our lives to the “Real You” and not the you the world is pressuring you to be.
Just like the saying, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is the present and why it’s called a gift”, the same thing can be said of each of our lives. You aren’t who you once were. Only God is unchanging and remains the same. If anyone understood that the value of their past life and how it relates to our present and the future, it was the apostle Paul. He declared in Philippians chapter 3 that his past didn’t define him but rather Jesus did. Paul considered everything in his past life “dung” in comparison to the knowledge of knowing Jesus, His plan and purpose for our lives.
The point is this. Jesus defines you not what you have or have not done. Its not what you have done that matters most. Its what Christ Jesus has done for you. To take hold of your future then you will have to let go of your past! Don’t dwell on your past, dwell on the fact that He who has begun this good work in you is faithful to complete it! Dwell on this fact today, that as a follower of God, your best is still yet to be! Dwell on the fact that your best days are in front of you not behind you because He who called you is faithful. What you and I believe about Jesus is what ultimately defines us, who we are, what we, do, what we will become and where we will spend eternity!
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:7-8
I LOVE YOU!
Psalm 139:15-16
I read something the other day on social media that said, “Jesus called Peter a, “Rock” long before Peter was stable and mature. The Father leads us by calling out what He sees, not calling out our failures.” Like the other 100 or so people who hit the little red heart icon, I liked it too. As I sat there pondering the statement I was asking myself if I liked it because it made me feel good or was it because it was true. After some careful study I determined, both. The statement gives us hope for our lives which should made us feel good but more important, the statement is biblically true. God sees us not just as we are but as we will ultimately be. Simply put, God starts with the end in mind. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it best, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Our lives are in a continual metamorphic state until the moment we are glorified together in heaven one day.
Some of the best examples I have found in reading my bible that God does in fact lead our lives by calling out what He sees are in Jeremiah 29:11 in the Old Testament and in Ephesians 2:10 in the New. It’s important to know the timing when Jeremiah reminded the children of Israel of God’s thoughts about them. Jeremiah penned those words while the nation of Israel was in Babylonian captivity. What comfort they would have as their captivity was coming to an end when they heard the words in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God was fully aware of the nation in their current state and yet He gave them hope that they would not remain in their current state as He had something far better for them. What was true for them is true for us!
In Ephesians 2:10, the apostle Paul reminds us of an amazing truth, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Before God spoke the world into existence He had you in mind! Your life, your very purpose, they were all determined before you were born. Romans 12:2 exhorts us to be forward thinking and living when the apostle writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” In other words, the apostle Paul is saying to devout our lives to the “Real You” and not the you the world is pressuring you to be.
Just like the saying, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is the present and why it’s called a gift”, the same thing can be said of each of our lives. You aren’t who you once were. Only God is unchanging and remains the same. If anyone understood that the value of their past life and how it relates to our present and the future, it was the apostle Paul. He declared in Philippians chapter 3 that his past didn’t define him but rather Jesus did. Paul considered everything in his past life “dung” in comparison to the knowledge of knowing Jesus, His plan and purpose for our lives.
The point is this. Jesus defines you not what you have or have not done. Its not what you have done that matters most. Its what Christ Jesus has done for you. To take hold of your future then you will have to let go of your past! Don’t dwell on your past, dwell on the fact that He who has begun this good work in you is faithful to complete it! Dwell on this fact today, that as a follower of God, your best is still yet to be! Dwell on the fact that your best days are in front of you not behind you because He who called you is faithful. What you and I believe about Jesus is what ultimately defines us, who we are, what we, do, what we will become and where we will spend eternity!
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:7-8
I LOVE YOU!
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