How do you feel when you get something new?
Especially when that something new is new
life – such as a baby? Or a pet?
There’s new life in Christ, as many of us have found, and this is life on a new level, life with all sorts of added features and qualities. It is joyful, exhilirating, fulfilling, abundant and it lasts for ever. It’s ever new.

It consists of a relationship with Jesus the Christ – a love relationship. It’s common on Facebook for people to give their status as ‘in a relationship’. It’s also a phrase used in conversation. How many would see it in such terms as to say, “I’m in a relationship with Jesus the Christ”? I am happy to say that.

How do you get this new life?
We get into relationship with Jesus the Christ by believing. Not just ideas in the head – as in doctrines – but in complete commitment, as in marriage.
John 1:12 uses two words: receive and believe. Other times the Bible says trust God and put your faith in God. Whatever the words, it means comitting our lives totally to God through Jesus the Christ.

Believe
This word, believe, is an important word. We all have beliefs. We can hold onto our beliefs and we can change them. When we establish a relationship with Jesus the Christ we change our beliefs to a greater or lesser extent because we are all believing things that are and things that aren’t part of God’s scheme. Once we get hold of what Jesus believes we want to hold those beliefs very tightly – so tightly they may be better called convictions.

We often use the analogy of warfare to describe the situation we’re in. This is not warfare of physical violence. The warfare that the Christian is involved with is the battle between true and mistaken beliefs. It is warring for reality against the delusional world of lies. So we must make sure that our convictions are true.

True beliefs give us a good life; false beliefs give us a troubled life. Convictions formed on true beliefs are what get us through. Our lives depend on these convictions and I want to talk about three of them. Actually I wanted to but I will talk about one of them today and keep the others for next week and the week after.

The world says I’m not much
I read this on a cereal box would you believe it:
“Be yourself”. Actually one hears this bit of advice a lot these days. I think it good advice. After all, if you’re not being yourself, who are you being? Anything else is pretence and that’s not good.

But to be yourself you have to know two things: who you are and that you are worth knowing – your identity and your value.

How do you know who you are? People will tell you. But it is complicated. It’s mostly not a conscious thing – we absorb it rather than think about it. And not only do people tell us, we also hear what we think they’re saying and things can get pretty confused. We do have our own input as well.

Your family is your first source of identity. That is added to by friends, coleagues and even acquaintances. What these people say will vary from person to person. We are not likely to get a consistent message because all respond to us according to their own predilections. How we come across to a person and how we are treated depends a lot on what is going on in that person’s life and how they see themselves. So who ya gonna believe?

And what about value? Part of identity is what we figure justifies our existence and makes us worth knowing. This too can get horribly twisted. Is a girl valued because she’s pretty and without value if she’s not? Is a boy valued because he’s handsome and strong? Is your value really higher if you’re good at sport? Is your value proportional to the size of your bank account? Or do you have value for your own account? Someone said, “If you don’t like my opinion of you, you can always improve.” This is the sort of thing we are up against. Don’t buy into this at all. Someone else – I think it was Albert Einstein – said, “Try not to become a man of success; but rather try to become a man of value.” This is more like it. Each of us is unique and that is part of our value.

Getting this wrong will get us into all sorts of trouble. Messed up identity and value can lead to a troubled life, and even self-harm and / or depression. If I don’t recognise my personality, if I have no idea what I’m good at or could be good at if I tried, if I think my value is in something harmful, things aren’t going to go too well for me.

It’s not hard – and too common for people to get devalued by someone continually telling them they’re rubbish. They come out with little or no confidence. And it’s not just the blatant abusers who can do this. Subtle can be even more effective because we often don’t see it. In my family of origin we ensured that nobody got a swelled head. It took me years to get a usable amount of confidence. Even today I often have to take conscious action to overcome my hesitancy.

God says I’m perfect
It’s my recommendation that you get your identity, your value, your confidence from God. Those of us who have a relationship with the living God in Jesus the Christ have a real advantage over those who don’t. Why? Because we, of all people, know that God, the best qualified judge of all people says we are perfect and we have infinite value. We know it’s true, because God says so.

Look at these promises.

I am accepted. ‘Accept one another … as Christ has accepted you.’ Romans 15:7. Christ has accepted you – and the rest of us – that’s why we can accept one another.

I am loved. “I amGod, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Saviour. I paid a huge price for you: That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you. Isaiah 43:3,4

I belong to God. Jesus prayed to his Father and ours, “I pray for … those you have given me, for they are yours.” John 17:9

I am chosen. ‘… as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved …’ Colossians 3:12. God has chosen us, made us holy and loves us dearly.

I am favoured. ‘Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.’ Psalm 5:12

I am protected. ‘But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.’ 2 Thessalonians 3:3

I am victorious. ‘But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:57

I am known by God. ‘God knows who belongs to Him.’ 2 Timothy 2:19

I will never be forsaken. ‘Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have, since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.”’ Hebrews 13:5

There are many more quotes I could have given along the same lines. Do you know who you are? God’s beloved child. Do you realise your value? God says you’re worth the world to Him. On the basis of God’s opinion of me I can confidently be myself knowing I have great value and so can you.

Now here’s the how-to: read the Bible and see what God says about you and every time you realise that what you believe does not match up with what God says, replace your false belief with God’s truth. Hang on to these truths. Make them convictions and don’t allow some mere human to shake your conviction.

‘Every promise God made has been kept; not one has failed.’ Joshua 23:14

One more passage for you to contemplate as we close:

‘Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.’ 2 Peter 1:3,4