Did someone label you?

No one was more surprised than me when I first saw our 150 Christmas card order!  Do you notice anything wrong with this card?  Look closely.  Do you see it yet?  WE ARE NOT THE SMITH FAMILY!  The Smith Family was on the Walmart Web site for that particular card.  It wasn’t clear where to change the name.  Our computer kept freezing up so when it finally looked like it was going to work I quickly pushed send.  It hit me thirty minutes later that I did not recall putting our name on the card. Now, I find this rather funny!  (I wouldn’t be laughing if Walmart had not made it right for me.)  It’s amusing that our ministry teaches people their identity and then we send out a Christmas card with the wrong name on it!  But it actually inspired me to write a blog. 

Has someone ever put a label on you?  Have you ever been called a name that you KNOW you are not?  Do you know who you are?  It ALWAYS hurts when we are falsely accused or misunderstood but it’s not quite as painful if you know that you know that you know who you are!  The bible is clear!!! YOU are a new creation in Christ.  No matter what anyone says.  Your behavior does not determine your identity.  Birth determines identity!  If you have been born again into the family of God, old things have passed away and new things have come.  EVERYTHING changed!  Aren’t you grateful? Yes, we are a work in progress.   BUT truth is what God says, period!  And HE says our spirit determines our identity.  It is His job to conform us into the image of Christ in our Soul.  In other words, He is making what is true on the inside, true on the outside. This Christmas may we remember the enormous gift we were given when Jesus volunteered to become a human being and die on a cross so we can have HIS life and become reconciled to our Heavenly Father!  This baby in a manger changed everything for us.  His birth, His life, His death and His resurrection!  Ephesians 5:8 tells us, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light.”   Colossians 2:13 tells us, “And you, who WERE dead in your trespasses…, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us ALL our trespasses…”   I Corinthians 1:30 tells us, “By HIS doing you are IN CHRIST JESUS, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.   Romans 8:29, “For God knew his people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son…”  Again, EVERYTHING changed!  Our hearts, our destiny, our past, our future and our identity!  I John 3:1 tells us, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, AND SO WE ARE!”  No matter what anybody else says!

I just got a call from my daughter, “Hey Mom!  I just saw a friend’s post on fb.  It said, Nothing like getting home to find out your Christmas cards say from The Smith Family.”  It’s nice to know I’m not the only one that made that mistake!    🙂

 

Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!