Did you know when you say "yes" to Jesus; when you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are instantaneously in right standing with God. So often we think in order to be in right standing with the Father we have to be perfect or at least not commit the "big" sins. The truth is there is nothing we can do to earn our right standing with God. The Bible tells us it is a free gift given in faith for all that believe (Romans 3:22).

So many of us have questioned if we have purpose. We spend our lives trying different avenues in order to "discover" what it is. When doing this we find ourselves at the end of a road with no results. We need to understand that our purpose is not our calling. Our purpose comes from Matthew 22:34 where Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love God and love people. Our calling is simply how we walk that out!

We all "sin and fall short of the glory of God" but the Bible tells us that if we are in Christ, we no longer stand condemned when we do sin. The amazing truth is Jesus stood in our place and paid our debt. He paid the price to set us free from condemnation. Not only did he pay the penalty for our sin, he also restored our relationship with the Father. We don't have to strive or try to pay for our sins all we have to do is accept the sacrifice Jesus so graciously made on our behalf. 

We all fail and "fall short" at times but does failing make us failures? If we are in Christ, we cannot be failures because the Word tells us we are victorious in Christ! It seems like such a simple answer but how do we keep from thinking we are failures when we mess up? How do we keep from thinking we are failures when we fall short? Learning how to separate our "who" from our "do" is crucial to the process. When we learn to separate who we are from what we do, we can walk in the victory of no longer thinking we are a failure. 

The Bible tells us God knew us before we were born, that he called us by name and has a great plan for each of our lives. The amazing thing about it is that he already went ahead of us and worked out all the details. We are not in charge of figuring everything out. We are not responsible for qualifying ourselves. God qualifies us  therefore our qualifications aren't based on the worlds standards. Our "lack" doesn't determine our ability to walk in the calling God has for us. "In our weakness, his power is made perfect".

Do you base your worth and value on what people say about you, what you have done or what you have accomplished in life? Part of being a new creation in Christ is understanding our worth and value isn't based on all the things the world says makes us worthy and valuable. Our worth and value is solely dependent on whose we are. That we are children of God; sons and daughters of The King. 

Do you know that God loved you before you were ever born? His love for you will never change no matter what you feel, what your circumstances are and what you do. God is love therefore love is not something he does, but who he is. Many of us base our perception of God's love on people that have fallen short to show us true "agape" (love in Greek). This is the kind of love that God is. He is a self-sacrificing, humble, unconditional love. He desires for us to have a true heart revelation of him and his love for us. 

Do you ever wonder what it means that you are a new creation in Christ? What does it look like to have a completely new identity in Christ once you surrender you life to Jesus? Join in for this nine week series based off Carie's book, "Identity Christ-Us". Carie will explain what it looks like to have a new identity in Christ and how to walk that out in your daily life. In order to get the most out of this series purchase the workbook to go along with the teachings. Order at:https://www.amazon.com/Identity-Christ-Us-Workbook-Carie-Smith/dp/179469479X?ref_=ast_author_mpb

We see how God in the flesh, Jesus, persevered all throughout his life. He lived in a culture that if you weren't the part of a certain status,  you were considered less than. Jesus refused to confirm to the cultural norm and his love for humanity persevered past the religious box into the margins. His love persevered past the sin of the world, past the suffering he face, past the persecution and all the way to the cross. Now he calls us to love past where people are at. He calls us to meet them where they are at and invite them to come up higher.

No matter what we have done or what has been done to us there is always hope for us. It's not because of us but because God sent us Jesus, our hope. When we realize that we need a Savior and truly accept what he did for us on the cross we can walk in the hope he paid for us to have. Once we realize we aren't hopeless and accept Jesus' forgiveness for our sins, we now have the opportunity to have hope for others that the world would deem "hopeless".