This morning I woke up and gave myself a pep talk. At first I might not have wanted the pep talk but I knew that that precisely was a reason to give myself one. It went a little something like this:
"Leneway, it's a new day. Yesterday, that's in the past. Yesterday does not define you. Yesterday does not have that privilege. Maybe yesterday you didn't live up to Christ's perfect standard. But today is a new day to pick yourself up and have a new shot at living for Him. Because yesterday doesn't define you; Christ defines you."
I know I'm not the only one who needs a pep talk like this. As I talked to a friend yesterday, we were talking about making camp decisions and how if they often don't stick at first people give up defeated. Campers, I know that not all of you went home and lived out the decisions you made for Christ. I know you haven't given up that sin, haven't witnessed to those friends you said you would, haven't stayed in the Bible as much as you said you would....my little friends, I know. And to the rest of my friends/fellow counselors/classmates/whoever, I know that our journey to follow Christ is often laden with the same bumps and barriers. The question is never have we lived up to the standard yesterday, but what are you gonna do with it today?
Romans 8:1-2 became my battle cry this morning: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death." My encouragement is for you, my friends, to memorize this verse and make it your battle cry to. So when regret, shame, guilt, feelings of unworthiness based on your past, whatever it might be, comes creeping in from your past you can now defend yourself. I mean God's Word is a sword after all (Ephesians 6:17), so let's start using it to fight the lies. And when the Bible says I'm not condemned, I'm going to chose to believe it. Condemned means to be sentenced to punishment or having been expressed disapproval in. And God does neither for those who are in Christ. Therefore no matter how bad you've messed up yesterday, God's not disappointed in you. Because of what Christ did you have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and there's nothing you can do to change that. God doesn't concern Himself with how you responded to Him in the past, He's set you free from sin and death. It's got no hold on you. What God is concerned with is how are you going to respond to Him today.
Proverbs 24:16 "For though the righteous falls seven times, they get back up again."
God knows we're going to fail. What defines us, what truly matters is if we pick ourselves up after that or just lay there on the ground defeated. I for one will refuse to lie there defeated by sin, by my inadequacies, by all the ways I would consider myself a disappointment. I invite you to do the same.
So where do you need to pick yourself up? Is it praying more, reading the Bible more, stopping that sin or addiction, being a good witness to your friends, or (fill in your own blank)? Don't let the past discourage you, don't let it hold you down. For Christ died so that sin and death could no longer have that kind of hold on you. Today you have the choice and the freedom to pick yourself back up, shake off the dust, and start living the life Christ called you to. This is your invitation to do just that.
