For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge... But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
I'm reading a book called "Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life." Now I realize the title can seem cheesy or flowery but the content of this book as anything but that. The author (Elyse Fizpatrick. obviously...) addresses an issue she refers to as Identity Amnesia. It's seen when we so quickly forget who and what we are in Christ. We can go to a service, hear a great sermon, then go home and begin complaining about a friend, become upset that we weren't invited to that party, acting as if we had never attended church at all. How can we so quickly forget everything we were just reminded of just hours before? If you are life me, then you know what I'm talking about!
How do we fall into this? We forget to focus on how Christ has changed our identity to be His, and by focusing on external behaviors. When we are internally changed, outward behavior changes as well but, "Without the recognition of this prior and ongoing work of love, we won't have the courage or power to fight the sin in the way He is calling us to." We neglect our remaking and molding of our inner person and depend on our determination to change, when in fact it is from our inner person that true, genuine change occurs. When we focus so heavily on our self-discipline, communication, responses (or whatever issue you are dealing with) we forget our identity, where true change comes from.
What are we filling our mind with? We may go to church for an hour, or have one great conversation then what we learned quickly disappears because we fill our mind with hours of worldly television, music, movies, or conversation. No wonder truth gets drowned out! "We're staggering around under the misconception that we really do need to love, accept, and respect ourselves to make it through the day." In reality, we are fueled by the love of God and we accept ourselves because of our ultimate acceptance by God!
This is getting long. you get idea :) let's not forget who we are first. Outward behavior second.
