You wouldn’t think a little shift in perspective would change your life, but I have experienced exactly that. When we obsess on all the things we think are wrong or how we don’t have enough of something, we move to the negative and live in that mess. When we recognize Jesus even in the hard of life, we can move forward with a totally different mindset.
People want to minimize the difference made by having the Life of Christ within. They want to make it out to be silly and even crazy. And they want to focus on shifting behavior as the primary thing, with the heart or mind left to bring up second place. The order is all wrong. Behavior follows what is deep within us, not the other way around. If we focus on behavior, we end up being frustrated or self-righteous, depending on the outcome. Then we’ve got new behaviors we have to deal with as we grow other means of coping with life that look different but are no less restricting.
If, instead, I recognize who Jesus is in me and who I am in Him, my behavior naturally shifts. If I am a beloved child of God, the destructive behaviors don’t suit me anymore. If I am totally accepted and treasured and able to do all things in Him, the selfish and self-righteous behaviors aren’t normal anymore for me. It isn’t that I’ve fought hard enough to eliminate them—they drop off as I recognize I don’t need them. The recognition changes everything.
Please understand that I don’t have it all right when it comes to avoiding coping—I continue to pursue my old coping sometimes as a way to deal with life on my own and fall on my face. But I see more and more these days how I don’t need that anymore. And I think you can too.
So, we give thanks. We recognize the truth of who God is and who we are in Him. We praise Him in the middle of what seems hopeless, knowing that He isn’t limited to our perception of hope but brings us up into a new realm of possibility. We refuse to focus on the darkness that threatens to take us under, realizing that obsession with the problem does nothing but dig us deeper with the problem. We acknowledge the truth of our identity in Christ, and thank Him for the incredible gift of taking away the old identity.
But we thank God for giving us the victory as conquerors through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. So now, beloved ones, stand firm and secure. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence. We know that we prosper and excel in every season by serving the Lord, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive with fruit that endures. 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 TPT