Our experiences that we depend on come from the negative belief systems we held in the past. When you become born again, you have to discontinue those old beliefs, and they are to pass away because you are a new creation. When we do not remove or let go of these old things, we create for ourselves a mixed reality. Instead of going from Saul to Paul, we are Saul-Paul. Trying to serve two masters, the truth and the lie. We can’t do that; we will either deceive one or kill the other. We must forsake everything we knew before we were born again and act to the new creation. We will say righteousness but act contrary, holding onto things of old, which colors our reality in Christ. When we have this mixed reality, it creates the perception that the word of God does not work for us or God loves others more than us. This mixed reality creates a victim mindset, and we connect with people on old issues, complicating current issues. Let’s think about it. If you go around and listen to negativity, lies, bad stories, and all sorts of distorted experiences, and they fill your heart, will you not start to see and have those same experiences? You will be persuaded; it is inevitable that your heart and mind will be persuaded, then your experiences will reflect what you have been persuaded with, and you start calling it truth. As a born-again Christian, the meditation of our heart and the words of our mouth must be pleasing to God.They are to be of gratitude and rejoicing. That is how we think of ourselves, others, and situations; our imagination on these things must be purified. For when we think right and meditate on good things, we speak good and positive. Therefore, we will not act negatively or evil. As a man thinks, so he is. Actions, both good and bad, James shares, come from heart and thought. A man first starts to think of evil, then he speaks it; as he speaks it, he forms a mental picture, and then it becomes actionable to him, and then he commits it. By nature, we are righteous; that is the declaration over our lives, but a mixed reality causes that nature not to have its physical effects because our thoughts are still that of a sinner, our speech is still that of a sinner, so our actions will be that of a sinner. So for a believer, all he has to do is make the conscious decision and effort to think properly and speak properly. Just because you become born again does not mean you will automatically change, and it’s not deliverance you need; it is change.
Learning to change takes time! In all of Paul’s letters, he addressed them as saints, yet they were acting contrary; they were learning to change. It did not mean they lost their salvation but needed help in learning to live right. What we call rightly living. In this period, you will make mistakes, and you will learn the habits that you need to be conscious about. You will learn more about yourself and have the opportunity to practice obedience and discipline. It is not a cue to condemn yourself. Even if your heart shall condemn you, the Lord knows greater, not more, but greater than your heart. So trust in the Lord and the hope you have been called to and received with joy.
We need not punish ourselves for our iniquity anymore because Jesus has taken our iniquity. Like Saul and many of the people in the Old Testament, it’s easy to relate to them for the wrong things that they have done, although it’s easy to relate to it is wrong to do so. The only thing we ought to collect from the Old Testament is the characters’ lives and the principles that we have seen. We ought to collect and understand how the lives of those in the Old Testament were carried out and how they related to God. We are not to compare ourselves to them for our only comparison, accurate comparison can be Jesus. Although that may sound counterintuitive, it is true for Jesus said that every man born of the seed of righteousness born of the Holy Spirit is as he is. As it is not by human desire or by man or by husband‘s will but born of God, so if we are born of God, we are born of the seat of righteousness which is incorruptible, holds no guilt or iniquity. Jesus said that John the Baptist is the greatest man to be born of a woman, yet everyone who is in the kingdom is greater than he is. Furthermore, Isaiah says, “For we all like sheep will destroy each one to his own, and the Lord has laid upon him, him being Jesus, the iniquity of all, so take this as an encouragement: you need not guilt yourself, punish yourself for your inequity, for the punishment has been laid upon the Son that we may live in righteousness. Bless you, my child. I pray that the grace of God becomes known to you and that each and every day you’re able to experience and your mind is renewed in the knowledge of the love of God that he asked for you. That in that knowledge and in that love you begin to love him more and sinless you are blessed.”