“I am Justified!” What a marvelous, wonderful and miraculous truth.
SAVED, SANCTIFIED AND JUSTIFIED
I am a frail, fragile and depraved woman. Because of God’s grace and mercy He chose me to be His child (John 1:13). 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 tells me I am sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of God.
MY STORY
I remember that day in June sitting on the front row and hearing of a message about Gods love. I don’t remember who was teaching, but his message grabbed my heart. He had just described the end times and said God loved me so much that Christians would not go through such suffering, but would go to Heaven and live eternally with God. I was so touched to think God loved me so much that He gave his life for me. For me! I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and to teach me how to live for Him. I had gone to church each Sunday most of my adult life, but I lived like the world the other days of the week. But now I wanted to be a Christian every day of the week, not just on Sunday.
1 Corinthians 6:19 says that if I am a Christian, I actually house the living God. How great is that? That makes me very special and it gives me huge responsibilities. My identity, who I saw myself as, began to change drastically. Now I’m a child of God. When I read God’s Word (being a literalist), I figured “God said it, I better do it.” It is a wonderful journey.
WE ARE EACH DIFFERENT
When I look at women in an audience before speaking, I see beautiful, uniquely different china teacup vessels, each created special. I collect china cups and have all sizes, shapes, colors and decorations.
One cup is bright orange with a lot of gold trim. This woman enjoys attention, she likes bright clothes and enjoys telling stories. She is a fun woman, in fact her motto is, “Life must be fun.”
Another cup sits high in on her saucer so you notice her. She needs to lead and is task oriented. She can accomplish much, and her motto is, “Just get the job done.”
Yet a beautiful black cup with a little pink trim and one rose on it, is more of a behind the scenes person. She likes things done well and detailed; her motto is, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”
Still another is an Asian looking cup and her saucer doesn’t match but it fits and she is comfortable. She likes it. She likes peace at all cost, and her motto is, “I don’t care, what ever you want.”
These are very brief descriptions but it demonstrates we are each different. There is a place where all the teacups are alike and so are we as godly women, as sisters in Christ.
WE ARE ALL ALIKE
As china teacups, the outer shell is what we see when we greet each other. We can’t change that, we are born with our shell. Oh we can gain and lose weight, color our hair and put make-up on, but our shell remains the same.
The lining of the cup represents our personality, that is God-given also; we are born with it. We each have strengths and weaknesses. We are to polish our strengths and chip away at our weakness and become more Christ-like.
The inside of the cup is our character. It is who we are in the closets of our lives. We have complete control of what we put on the inside. We can change and become the woman God created us to be.
Cups live in a saucer. If we pour liquid too full in our cup it will spill into the saucer. If we tip our cup over whatever is on the inside will fall into our saucer. We live in a saucer also. Our saucer is our neighborhood, family, friends and those closest to us. Whatever we have on the inside when we get tipped over will affect those around us. If we harbor anger, bitterness, jealousy, idolatry, sexual acts, behaviors that are characteristically thought of as non-Christian, then our behavior will affect those in our saucer. Contrast that to a woman who is kind, caring, gentle; always seems to be encouraging and putting the needs of others first (Philippians 2:3,4), what is on the inside of her will affect those around her too. Which do you want to be? What is in your cup?
If we have children, we know that each is very different from another but there are certain things we make each do just because they are our “family name” child. As a child of God we want to become more like Christ, to honor Him in all we do, say and think. If we love the Lord with all our heart mind and soul, we will change. We will begin to see how very special our identity is in Christ. He died for us.
HOW DO I CHANGE?
God’s Word gives us instructions on how to become the woman God created us to be. How do we show the world our identity is in Christ?
1. First if we are married, our role in marriage will be visibly different. 1 Peter 3:1,5-6; Titus 2:5; Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:22,24,33b. Each of these tell us to submit to our own husband. (That is a lesson in itself.) As we learn the beauty of submission and apply God’s love to our husband, the saucer – the world around us will notice.
2. Second, a child of God will want to become more Christ-like. There are many who would mentor you and help you apply what you learn. Galatians 3:26-29 tells that although God is the Father of all people in a general sense since He created all, only those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ are God’s true spiritual children. We were like that teacup that was filled with anger and bitterness, etc., before we became God’s child. Now as His child, we are to put on new ways like kindness and caring and love and serving, etc. Remember all those years I attended church and thought I was a Christian? Well, it wasn’t until I surrendered my life to Christ to be my Lord and Savior and began to understand the price He paid on the cross, that my identity changed. Yes, I still sin, but it isn’t a pattern of my life.
3. Third, now that my identity is in Christ, I want to walk in a manner pleasing to Him. What do I do? Where do I go?
• Find a Bible teaching church to attend.
• Join an adult fellowship group.
• Attend a Bible study from that group or a women’s Bible study.
• Apply what you learn. If it comes out wrong the first time, ask for forgiveness and try again.
• Write a Bible verse on a 3×5 card and memorize it. Colossians 4:6 is a good start.
• Begin application at home.
• You are a new creation. Act like it.
Oh the joy that fills my soul. No more being fake. We are children of the living God. That is a great identity. Praise His wonderful name.
Lovingly, Glenda Hotton
