Like Father like Son

Today, I wish you a love-filled and life-changing Easter Sunday! Today is a powerful reminder for Christians of who we have become and the great victory that is available to us. Each of us has a distinct identity, and that identity is one we received when we were born. Unless we take drastic measures, we will keep that identity until we die.

Due to Adam and Eve’s sin, the identity that we all received at birth is allegiance with the kingdom of darkness. Whether we know it or not, our desires, our views, and our habits are all linked to our birth into unrighteousness. We don’t lose this identity unless we die – die to sin and come to a new life in Christ.

In this new life, we switch allegiance and receive adoption by God, the Father, into the family of God. As Christians, the Bible says we are “… a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession …” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV). Not only this, but:

. We were once His enemies but we are now His friends

.We were once sinners but we are now saints

.We are a new creation. When our Father looks at us, He sees us as holy and righteous as the blood of Christ covers us.

So, we must now get to know God our Father, Jesus our Brother, Holy Spirit our Comforter, and the ways of the kingdom of light. For this to happen, we need to unlearn things from the kingdom of darkness. For, “… letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace”. Romans 8:6 (NLT).

To do this, I want to show you how we learn. This is where science meets the Scriptures. We receive most of our information through our five senses. This information is converted into thoughts. We then decide to accept or reject the resulting thought.

For example, it says in Exodus 7:23 (NLT): “ Pharaoh returned to his palace and put the whole thing out of his mind.” Or let us say that you are a married man who experienced lust while living in the kingdom of darkness. Now that you are in the light, whenever you see a beautiful woman who is not your wife, the information still comes in through your eyes as light waves that are then converted into an electrical current in the nerves of your brain. This ‘thought’ is joined by an emotion.

You then face a choice: allow your brain to meditate on or reject that thought. It might have previously been impossible to stop your mind, but now, you can when you rely on God’s power. Romans 8:11 (NIV) says, “ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” This means that the same incredible power that was able to accomplish the impossible is now at our disposal to help us retrain our brains.

If we decide to reject the habits of darkness, these thoughts and emotions immediately dissipate. However, if we decide to meditate on them, our brains start to produce chemicals that carry along this information and emotion and begin building memory. The more you meditate on a thought, the stronger that memory will become, driving you to become what you think on. But thank God for victory over even our thoughts!

Because of the resurrection power of God now in us, we can transform our minds as we walk as children of the light. Then we can fulfil 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NLT), which says: “… learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought … .”