Christian Living

Envisioning who we are in Christ

by Lorraine Taylor 
01/02/20
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"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

When we first encountered Jesus as a reality in our lives, we begin our journey in reorienting our position in life according to godly values. 

Reorient is defined as determining one's position regarding another reference point or adjusting or aligning (something) in a new or different way.

We no longer rely on the instruments (self, culture, societal standards) we use to define who we are, what we value, how we makde choices and how we determined our course in life; goals, pursuits, ambitions.

We began to undergo a ransformation. And this transformation that is that we became different in our makeup, having our very essence and core of our being altered. Our influence is God's divine nature - his core essence is holy love.

Our former life, the self that knew not God, the person that was separated from God, the self that was consumed by ego, came face to face with the holy character of the living God.

Our entire reference point began to be adjusted and realigned to this new way of being which was radically and vastly different from everything we had known.

We began to view God, life, and others from a new perspective, obtaining a fresh vision that flowed outwardly from the center of this divine nature.

God gifted his heart. In one instant, we were changed from a human-centered heart to a God-centered heart.

We then had to learn how to navigate, maneuver and find our way according to this new heart which was God’s spirit-life, his very nature, the essence of his character. God took up residence inside the fabric of our humanness.

This learning is a lifelong process in gaining understanding, insight, and knowledge into the ways of God and practically applying his life principles into our daily routines.

The word heart can mean different things depending upon the context. Most often, the heart refers to the soul of a human being that controls the will and emotions.

The heart is the source of our person, where our feelings and sensibilities are centered. This core or center of our being consists of our disposition, character and emotional constitution or will, where the intellect or imagination are seated.

All of these facets of who we were and who we think we are now ---- become shifted, altered, modified, and distinctly different ----- as the life of Christ works his preferences, his desires, and his being inside our beings; forming each one of us by the indwelling Spirit of God.---- developing us into godly image-bearers.

Our position in life is reoriented and determined now by this Christ-life as people who have inherited his divine holy nature whose life becomes our source of living this life. It is Christ’s life, the Holy Spirit, which aligns us nearer to who we really are as viewed from God’s perspective.

We, as believers, are now the Sons and Daughters of a God who says we are righteous, holy --- Christ-ones! This is who we were designed, created and ordained to be!

The old heart was anti-God. It worshiped nothing at all or anything at all … except for the one true God. The new heart acknowledges and worships the one true God, and it acknowledges him alone.

God himself becomes our reference point from where we gain our vision, our purpose and our meaning. We are reoriented from this old self and now are being realigned according to our true identity ---our reference point the nature of the holiness.

God’s very essence, his divine nature, his core being, and character is one of pure love. 

As God is revealing to us his nature. We are liberated, freed and released from relying on our old ways or human tendencies and now live according to godly inclinations and desires.

This is our true nature and this our royal position where we are seated in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) as His beloved ones in whom he delights!

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:12-14