“You are not defined by what you have done wrong. You are redefined by what Christ has done right, His righteousness.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2011-01-18) in his book, Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny (p. 154). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition.

We strive to do what we can to define who we are. We drive the right car, we wear the right clothes. We live in the right place. We even put our kids in the right activities, the right school but we feel like we still come up short.

Maybe it is because of something that we did when we were younger that no matter what we do or what we have we just can’t get away from it. That thing defines us in our mind.

Maybe it is what someone said about you. That is what defines you. Maybe it is because of an unpleaseable person in your life. No matter what you did, it was always wrong. You got an A but you should have gotten an A+. No matter what it was it wasn’t enough so you always felt like you were a failure or you were told you were and because they were an adult you believed them.

Listen you are not defined by what you did wrong or what someone thought you did wrong. You are defined by what Jesus thinks about you and He loves you so much that He died for you. If you were the only person who was alive He still would have died for you. That makes you very significant.

Here is the key. Whatever you have done wrong when you confess it to Christ He will forgive or redefine you and it will be as if you haven’t done it. That is His part. But you have to confess it. Then you have to appropriate that forgiveness. You have to accept it as a fact that you have been forgiven and you have to also forgive yourself. You are then redefined by who Jesus is and what He has done. You are no longer defined by what you have done but by what He has done for you and in you.

So who or what defines you?

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