Watch the video below by Steve McVey over at gracewalk.org then read my comments below:
These first three lies all center around one phrase…
“The Exchanged Life”
This is an important phrase, it’s the foundation of Christianity, because when you get this, everything else starts to fall into place and make MUCH better sense. You feel me?
That’s why I’m glad Steve’s first three lies are all about your identity, because this is truly the starting point… I covered how important your identity is to who you are (especially in the last post which you can read here)
I know a lot of Christians might think “you’re making a big deal over a different way of saying the same thing” but that’s just not true.
Here’s the way it works:
what you think about/what you believe ==> you say ==> you do
So you want to start enjoying your Christian life more?
You want to stop worrying that you’re not being a good enough Christian?
You want to finally rest and feel that “your yoke is easy and your burden is light”?
Then start VIEWING yourself the same way God views you… as a new creation… in Christ… a saint… and then when you catch yourself saying things like “God changed my life“.
STOP!
Then replace it with “God gave me a NEW life, in Christ”
And watch, because a smile will part your lips and your behavior will start to fall more in line with who you believe you really are.
How You VIEW yourself influences ALL behaviour
Here’s an example from my personal life (not related to Christianity) that proves how important your identity is:
I have a friend, let’s call him A.
He used to come hang out at my house and girls would come over too. But he would just sit around and be shy, until a girl talked to him first… or we were both talking to a girl–then his personality would come out and he’s REALLY sharp, witty and great at teasing.
Girls loved it when he teased him.
So very quickly (and with me reinforcing the concept) he realized he was actually a VERY attractive guy to girls.
He believes it now… so when he talks to girls, he talks like a guy who believes he’s attractive, he’s confident, etc… He walks different, sits different, everything.
Now every time we go out to a restaurant or bar (gasp!) there is always a circle of waitresses huddling around our table because they have such a great time around us.
It wasn’t that anything changed, he was cool and attractive the whole time–it’s when he started VIEWING himself the way he REALLY was that everything else changed.
In case you think me and Steve are putting you on about this exchanged life stuff, go ahead and look it up in your own Bible, see the verses he mentioned in the video above — Romans 6:6, Romans 6:3, Colossians 3:3…
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5 Things I’m Grateful For:
- It’s another SUNNY day
- “Statistics mean nothing to the individual” that hit me like a ton of bricks this morning
- God always answers my prayers (in one way or another)
- I live in America
- I have a job that allows me time to have this personal blog
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Related Posts
- Christian Lie #1: Salvation is you giving your life to Christ
- Christian Religion Lie #2: “Christians Are Just Sinners Saved By Grace”
- Christian Religion Lie #4: “Becoming a Christian=having your sins forgiven”
- Why you don’t have to “do your part” in the Christian life
- The Christian life is NOT about what you do for Christ
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