You've been remade!

So often we hear these words, or words similar to them. They are full of hope and encouragement. We who were once slaves to sin have been set free and made anew in Christ because of His love for us. Pretty awesome! We know these words are true in our heads, but what really challenges myself and others is knowing that these words are true in your heart.

Knowing that these words are true in your heart requires not just knowledge and faith, but also total surrender. You have to surrender your feelings of inadequacy, guilt and shame to Christ, who died so you wouldn’t have to carry these burdens. You can no longer use your past sinfulness as an excuse or reason as to why you are how you are. Your sins don’t shape you, they alter the path that God laid before you. What you do on that new path is up to you. You should use your past failings as stepping stones to a better you instead of stumbling blocks to better relationships with God, yourself and others.

So often people see their lives as defined by what they’ve done and how far they’ve fallen or strayed. When in reality these things don’t define who you are, but are markers of the path you have taken to get where you are today. Everyone’s life is filled with a past history of running from God and giving into temptation. You can either use this to draw closer to God through His merciful and forgiving love or you can use it as an excuse as to why you aren’t good enough, deserving enough, or worthy to be loved by God. You can accept the fact that you have been remade through Christ’s love for you, or you can reject that. It’s up to you.

No matter what you choose God will continue to love you. It is up to you to accept His love, He will not force it upon you. In accepting God’s love and the fact that you have been remade, you are agreeing to not define your life by your past failings. You are giving God you guilt, shame and feelings of inadequacy because if you have truly been remade than your past is no longer a part of you. And thus you cannot define your life by your sins; you can merely accept the fact that you have ended up where you are because of past decisions, and then move forward, closer to God, from there.

This is definitely a hard road to walk on. One I frequently struggle with. It is so easy to fall into the trap that you are not good enough. But YOU ARE!! Christ had nails driven into his hands and feet, a crown of thorns trusted onto his head, his back beaten, and his side cut open to make you believe that you are good enough. Will you accept that?

Do you accept in your heart that you have been remade anew through Christ’s love for you? Does your past sinfulness define who you are? Have you fully surrendered your guilt, shame and inadequacies to God? What is holding you back from doing so? Have you grown accustomed to and comfortable with the guilt and shame of your past?

You don’t have to be, for Christ died so that we might have new life. Live it!