Who We Really Are

We were blessed this past week with a wonderful trip to the mountains of New Mexico! What a treat, after so many years, to leave the heat of South Texas and get to see autumn. I walked some beautiful paths, found a prayer labyrinth and experienced some much needed solitude and silence. My mountain walking companions, Ruby and Oso, led every path and seemed to enjoy all the new scents and sights. We almost didn’t come back! 😉  

The whisper of the breeze thru the pines and enjoying the vistas together was a perfect backdrop to beautiful moments spent in His Word. One of the passages, that is in a devotional I’m doing online with some friends right now, was in a new translation (perhaps new to me?) and it’s called The Passion Translation. I enjoy using different Bible versions, just to help me “listen” better and I don’t skim over familiar phrases….like this one:   

For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it.  My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid.  So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am.

Romans 7:18-20

Perhaps it was sitting where I was, away from the hustle and the bustle, but this resonated differently for me that day. So, I’d like to share a brief prayer I wrote in response to this resonating. I pray it  for us all as we seek to live out who we really are in Christ.

Sweet Father,

Help us remember who we are ~ Who we belong to. It is a struggle sometimes in the ugliness of the world, but oh God in heaven, help us to turn to You ~ to be like Jesus to this world.

~ not in judging others, for He did not come to condemn. 

 John 3:17

~ not snippy or spiteful, but as Jesus, Who is the Word of Grace.

   Ephesians 4:29

~ not vengeful or angry, for Jesus called us to love one another, to forgive as we are forgiven – freely. John 13:34-35

~ not haughty or “holier than thou”, because Jesus washed the  

   disciples feet … Oh, let us wash feet! John 13:12

Help us walk humbly, honoured in the foot steps of Whom we walk and trusting the Maker of our Path.

~ Selah