We live in a politically correct culture that doesn’t understand the Gospel of Christ and the power of the cross. As I travel to conferences and retreats, I hear a lot about being broken women. Messages that are sincerely meant to bring healing and hope, yet every time we say we ARE broken, we slip the shackles back on our hearts and find ourselves struggling to understand what it means to live an abundant and victorious Christian life.
We WERE broken, but now WE ARE COMPLETE in Christ!
Listen, sweet friend…the enemy uses the brokenness of our past to render us ineffective today.
Today, I want to give you 1 truth from Scripture to help you, not only understand who you are now, but walk in your new identity and become who you were created to be.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR IDENTITY IS A JOURNEY THAT LASTS A LIFE-TIME, NOT A ONE TIME EVENT.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 tells us the Holy Spirit is at work in us, changing us from glory to glory…more and more into the image of Jesus.
Walking in who you are means you understand that you are a divine design, carefully crafted by the Creator of the Universe on purpose and for a purpose… but it also means you are a work in progress.
Your position is instant, your journey is daily ~ Learning to walk in who you are is a process. Because we were broken and are now made whole, it doesn’t mean that we walk in the fullness of who we are right away.
Being broken no more doesn’t mean we won’t go through times of brokenness over our own sin or that we no longer experience places of pain. Our hearts sometimes beckon us to deal with the pain of the past and wounds that have left scars, but when we let our faith shout louder than our flesh, we take one more step in our journey to who we already are.
Sweet friend, the Christian life is a journey of learning to become who we were created to be. We are all being changed from glory to glory. We may be positionally perfect, but we’ve got a whole lot of learnin’ to do while we do this thing called life.
Like Mia in the Princess Diaries, we have an identity that we need to learn to walk in. But make no mistake…we ARE complete in Him. Period.
We may struggle with some stuff while we live in this flesh but we ARE NOT the sum of our sins. We ARE NOT ill-equipped, incapable, unworthy, unwanted or unloved. We are no longer held captive to the things that once enslaved us. We have been set free.
Today, as you reflect on your own brokenness, take a minute and write down what it is that has broken you. Then look up Colossians 2:10 again and cross out that which has held you captive for far too long. Your sin, your shame and even your brokenness were all taken care of on the cross.
Not convinced? Check out these verses that remind us some of the reasons Jesus came to give His life for us:
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
Colossians 2:13-14
13 You were dead because of your sins
and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
14 He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Great insights. I definitely needed to be reminded that I too am a princess….just still need a little training 😉