It's so easy to identify with our old nature. It takes no effort to slip back to our old ways. It's comfortable. But when we have been born again, God gives us HIS nature. Old things are passed away, and all things have been made new. Now we must learn to yield our flesh to Him, declaring Him as our Lord.
We have to decide, who are we going to identify with? Our old, sinful nature, or the nature of Christ, who now lives in us? Christ in us is our only hope. We must realize there is no way we can live a Holy life in our flesh. Our best is like filthy rags, but we live this life through the faith and power of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, so we can become like Him.
It's always harder to do what is right. Our old way of thinking, and our old ways come so easy to us. But we must renew our minds in His Word, so that we can become mature and attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Lord, help me not to cling to my old identity. You overcame this world, and gave the victory to us, so that we can have an abundant life. Empower us to put on our new self, and to be made new in the attitude of our minds. Our identity is now with you, Lord. Our allegiance belongs to you alone.
"To accept Christ is to accept Him with a revolutionary acceptance. It is to accept Him completely, all of Him to all of me. To accept Him exclusively, and not any other hope but Him. He alone is my hope. It is to accept His friends as my friends, His enemies as my enemies, His ways as my ways, His rejection as my rejction, the cross as my cross, His life as my life, and His glorious future as my glorious future. That's what it means to be a Christian!"Leonard Ravenhill
