Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I have been addressing knowing our identity in Christ. Leaders must grow in knowing who God is and in knowing who they are. They must grow in knowing who others are to lead them into the path of life for each one’s own destiny. Leaders lead others to find their identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ. This involves a connection to God as Father but also a connection to others in the body of Christ.
Each of us are part of a body. We are part of a being. That body is seen as an expression Christ centered community. It is expressed in our marriages and our families. It is expressed through the way we live in our everyday world. The things we do in life are connected to who we are in life. We can never fully discover who we are by the things we do, but the things we do can only bring an impact of life to our world through our understanding of who we are. Who we are is life-giving to our world and what we do expresses life to our world in practical and real ways. The more we know who we are, the more we will be able to give life to our world. Leaders lead others in knowing who each one is.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
We have not been given a life to live for ourselves. We have been given life to be life for the sake of our world. We are part of a corporate expression of life. God’s mercy invites us to live our lives as a holy service of God’s will and kingdom life as beings of life for the sake of others. The way of the world is to live for oneself. The way of the world is to take life from others to meet one’s own needs and personal desires. This is not the way of the kingdom of God. They way of the kingdom of God is to live for the wellbeing of others.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
God has called us all to receive a metamorphosis in our way of thinking. Our natural state of mind is to live for our personal needs and desires, but Holy Spirit works within each of us to change our focus, aim, and purpose in life. The renewing of our mind is an internal change that comes by Holy Spirit’s influence to our hearts from within. Our spirits empower our souls to become life-giving in our thoughts, reasoning, imagination, emotions, and desires. As our thinking changes, we prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God in our journey of destiny in this world. Each of us has been given a grace by God to be who we are meant to be for the sake of our world.
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
To think more highly than we ought to think is to think outside of the boundaries of who we are. What has been given to us in this world? Who are we today? We cannot live our lives in realities that are not our realities today. Whoever we are is who God gives us the grace to be. To think soberly is not to think with limitations or some form of religious piety. It is to know that who we are is serious business for our world. Being true to who we are today will bring life to our world today! Our world is dependent upon us bringing life to it. Our relationships are dependent upon us bringing life to them. Knowing this and becoming this is a matter of faith. It is not a matter of natural sight. It is a matter of hearing God’s voice from within our hearts to be who we are meant to be.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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