Part 2: I Have Been Completely Changed

Last week we started a five-part series called, Am I Enough? Probably the question that most of us don't say, but are wondering... dearly. And it affects how we parent, it affects everything, until I'm convinced I am enough. I am more than enough. Christ has done, that which makes me not have to bluff anymore. 

Last week, our topic was, I have a chosen personality — I wanted to finish that up by reading a short list, just a few things, that happen to us when we believe we're not enough. 

  • As sad as it is, those closest to you pay the most. 

  • You're uber-sensitive to even falsely perceived slights. 

  • You spend your days attempting to prove that you are enough instead of simply living with nothing to prove.

  • Your confidence in Christ, in His love and ability, is steadily eroded.

  • The real you never gets fully known by anyone. 

  • You're distrustful of any affirmation.

  • You parent, convinced that your child’s respect for you is the main thing. 

  • You have a hard time giving or receiving grace. 

  • You isolate yourself because it's very hard to stay in public, believing that others can tell that you are not enough. 

  • You hide your struggles, your addictions, your failures. 

  • Achievement becomes the hollow proof that you are enough. 

  • Defeating others is your currency. 

  • And sadly, people receive your talents but not your person. 

We must give life, power, and truth that can devastate that lie — because we are enough.

If having a chosen personality is hard to believe, the second topic we’re going to look at, I Have Been Completely Changed, has been underbelieved — it is so hard for us to believe this could actually be true! 

Complete change — I have been radically changed. I am not the same person I was the moment before I put my hope in Jesus. 

Galatians tells us, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20a (NKJV) But you know, I still have this personality, my chosen personality, that we talked about last week. It's still there. It didn't go anywhere. I’m a different person because I've been crucified with Christ — it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 

How crazy is that to believe?! But it's true, and the life that I now live in this skin, I live by faith, trusting that He really is in there — the One who loved me and gave Himself up for me. So, I learn to depend upon that power that’s in there, and I can't call myself a loser anymore because I'm Christ in me. 

This message is all over 2 Corinthians. It tells us, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) A few verses later, it says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

Ephesians tells us, “And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:24 (NASB) 

I am righteous and holy on my worst day. 

And so this thing, where I beat myself up and say, “Oh, I know He's in heaven and I'm saved, but I'm a worthless sinner. Oh, less of me, more of Him.” It sounds so holy - but it's not true. There is no distinction between you and Him anymore. Why would there be less of me, if who I am by definition is Christ in me? 

I have to believe that His power and strength reside in me. That goodness resides in me. It's not an add-on. It's totally fused into me. The core of your being is now fused with Jesus. He now lives in you. You have a greater power than willpower. 

The power, the very power of the resurrection, lives in you! 

And the most real you doesn't want to get away with anything. The most real you wants to obey from the heart. You have a shame-free identity. So if it's true, that alone simply answers the question, “Am I enough?” — YES, you are! God is in you! 

So, we’ve looked at the first two sessions - and there’s so much that we can say… But today, it's enough to say that you have a beautifully chosen personality and you aren’t who you were!! You are a completely changed creature... I didn't say you were fully mature yet — but you are fully righteous. 

Don’t miss next week, my friend — we’ll be looking at the changeless love of Jesus Christ, and how it transforms everything about the way we live!

 

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John Lynch