If you want to have a biblical view of who you are, understanding and accepting the truth about our sin is the most important area of our value judgments. It is key because the guilt associated with our behavior can lead to misery, depression and apathy. As long as we know that we are not working and gaining victory in our lives we live a defeatist Christian life. Unless we bein to deal wit the sinful habits in our lives, and grow in in our victory, we will struggle with who we are before God and others. We do that by understanding the truth and allowing it to play out in our lives. The key here is to learn to replace habits that lead to sin with good patterns of thinking and action. Jesus said in John 8:32 “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” This week we want to begin to challenge ourselves to live in victory.… READ MORE

As you struggle to overcome value judgments that are not sinful, I want to continue to give you some things to work through in your thinking: 1. Remember that godly character is more valuable to God and therefore more to be desired than outward appearance or human abilities – We must replace our temporal value system with an eternal value system (1 Tim. 4:7-8) 2. Learn to identify and correct legalistic, perfectionistic, and ascetic thought patterns. These are thought patterns that elevate man-made laws to the same level of God-given commands (legalism), Take an all or nothing mentality whose subjective standard is higher and more exacting that that of the Bible (Perfectionistic), or The belief that God is somehow necessarily more pleased if I punish myself for my inadequacies. 3. Stop comparing yourself to others – This is one of the greatest causes of unbiblical value judgments – God made each of unique in our abilities, and we cannot compare ourselves to others because each of us are different.4. Learn how to glory in your infirmities, knowing that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. – God delights in taking our natural weaknesses and using them to demonstrate His great … READ MORE

How you perceive yourself is often slanted by our sinful heart. What we value as important is often not as important as we think. It is important for the moment, but it is not important for eternity. We need to put on eternal glasses instead of the temporal glasses that we wear. How do we do that. Allow me to suggest some ways to do that. . . . 1. Make it your aim to thoroughly understand the do trines of justification and positional sanctification – often we feel that we are not “good enough” to be accepted by those around us and God because we view ourselves as inadequate in some area that is not sinful. Recognizing our position before God as righteous (declared by the work of Christ), and positionally as a saint (declared by our position) gives us perspective. 2. “Reprogram” our conscience by examining each area of doubt in light of the whole counsel of God. – Sometimes we develop an unbiblical view of ourselves because we have adapted the World’s values to our perception. The World did not create us God did, we need to view ourselves accordingly. 3. Learn how to distinguish sin issues … READ MORE