Skip to main content

“Studies suggest that just 3 percent of life events are highly memorable.”

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Locations 412-413). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I love the memory that I have when my wife, Margaret said yes to becoming my wife.  That is a great memory that I have shared over and over. 

But there are some memories that we would like to forget.  Aren't there?  Mark says, “Consciously or subconsciously, most of us are prisoners of our past. Even if we’ve confessed our sin, we still feel condemned. And that feeling of condemnation undermines the fact that God is for us. We keep beating ourselves up. We keep sabotaging ourselves. We keep believing the self-defeating lies that come from the enemy and become self-fulfilling prophecies.”

And that is so true for many of us, we truly are prisoners of our past.  And we are so very tired of those memories.

Mark goes on, “The only exit is fully accepting, understanding, and believing the life-changing truth that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Not a trace. Not a whiff. Not a hint.”

He then says, “We define ourselves by what we’ve done wrong, instead of defining ourselves by what Christ has done right. Or we define ourselves by the hurtful things done to us instead of what Christ has done for us.”


I want to define myself by what Christ has done for me.  What about you?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

"To put it simply, worry isn’t just a bad habit."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 1). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Ok, that is interesting. Louie says, "Worry is an Enemy tactic—a strategy built on lies that are designed to rob you of peace and tear your mind to pieces. "That’s why it’s crucial that you are able to spot the lies worry tells." He goes on, "Not long ago while on safari in South Africa, Shelley and I were really wanting to see a leopard in the wild. Early and late on our game drives our eyes were set on every tree limb, bush, grassy hill, and river path in hopes of finding one of several leopards that were known to frequent this particular area. But here’s the thing: leopards aren’t bright orange with tall, sparkly antennae on their backs. They are designed to blend into the surroundings, like the bark of a baobab tree where they might be lounging on one of its mighty branches. "In the same way, ...