Tuesday, December 11, 2018

DO YOU LIKE WHO YOU ARE?








A MOST UNUSUAL CHRISTMAS GIFT

By Ada Brownell

Do you like who you are?

An old guy I knew well told me one day before he died he’d like to live his life over—as somebody else. I was astounded. I thought he had an inflated ego, and viewed himself as better than others. I was wrong.

While they were small children, our granddaughters used to play dress up. I don’t remember if they were pretending to be someone famous, or themselves as adults, but it somebody else. Yet they did grow up to be beautiful young ladies.

God, who designed us in the beginning, has a special feature he added to humans, that can only occur supernaturally. We can be changed into a new person!

People who repented and accepted Jesus as Savior after living a life of sin are most noticeable when the change occurs.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus discussed supernatural changes when he talked to Nicodemus (John 3) who I’ll call Nick. Jesus told Nick, “Unless one is born again (changed), he cannot see the kingdom of God.

I imagine Nick’s eye’s bulged when he said, “How can a man be born when he is old?”

Jesus explained at first we are born “in the flesh,” but we can be changed when we are born again by the Holy Spirit. And a few moments later He said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Faith in Jesus changes everything about a person when he repents and accepts Him as Savior. I’ve seen the drunkard set free, the wicked changed in a moment, different inside out.  Those filled with hate, fear, bitterness and greed find it all washed away with the rivers of living water, joy unspeakable and full of glory. A black heart can be washed white by the blood Jesus shed on the cross. Then the love, joy, peace and other fruits of the Holy Spirit flow in.

When I was a child, my aunt screamed, “I’m lost!” in the middle of the pastor’s sermon and ran to the altar crying out for God’s mercy. She was changed from that day, dancing for joy—and loved on people until she died in her 90s.

I know she liked the new person she became.

Some people have said all they want for Christmas is their two front teeth, but God made it possible for us to become a totally new person because Jesus came to earth to be our Redeemer.

Forget sitting on Santa’s lap. Instead kneel at the feet of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive things we’ve never dreamed we could have, but would fill us with incredible joy. You’re promised in Psalm 37:4Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”


Perhaps it will be things you didn’t even know you needed!


Merry Christmas!                              







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