Pastor and author Chip Ingram says many people, including Christ-followers, tend to look at themselves with “warped mirrors.” In other words, they believe the lies of the enemy that have led to guilt, fear, insecurity and spiritual stagnation.
These deceptions inevitably keep people stuck, and they struggle with the same issues and habits for years. But Ingram says according to the first three chapters of Ephesians, God does not endorse that mentality. He wants believers to see themselves as the person He sees.
“We all acknowledge that, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, a new creature. The old things pass away, and behold, all things are becoming new,” Ingram told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “And who is that new person? God sees us as regenerated and justified in Christ and loved.
“It reminds me of a story of a friend who was sort of left out, an orphan when he was 8 years old,” Ingram said. “All of his buddies he grew up with were orphans, and he ended up watching all these kids walk out the door, so he felt rejected. He eventually got adopted by a great Christian family. And in the first few weeks, he slept on the floor and took food from the refrigerator and would hide it in the closet, because that’s what he did at the orphanage.
“He was legally adopted and he had parents who loved him,” he said. “He had a warm bed and all the food he wanted and nice clothes. But he lived like an orphan because he was so used to being an orphan. I think that’s kind of a parable of many Christian lives.
“God has given us all that we need,” Ingram said. “He has clothed us in his righteousness, filled us with His Spirit and says we’re so valuable because we’ve been redeemed. Yet we can feel worthless and insignificant. In Christ, we don’t need to feel that way.”
For more about your identity in Christ and how to break free from the enemy’s lies, listen to the entire podcast. {eoa}
