To clarify the subject, I'm not talking about your initial decision to place your trust in Jesus for payment and forgiveness of your sin. I'm talking about something that came after that.
Just thinking back on my life as a believer and some of the changes I've gone through over the years. I've definitely changed my "position" on some theological issues. But those haven't necessarily had a huge impact on my day to day experience of life.
In High School and college (with little random bursts since then), a recognition of the historical truth and reliability of the Bible had a big impact on my life, and injected it with purpose and faith. But in recent years it's been something different.
The truth that, when I really spent time considering it, actually began changing my day to day experience, is the combo of God's perfect righteousness and his tireless grace and mercy. Specifically, as I consider those things while deeply examining my own heart and life compared to his absolute holiness. It just began hitting me a few years ago that I was usually thinking "I'm a sinner who needs Jesus" largely in a theoretical sense. Like answering a question on a written exam. But I would secretly think to myself, "compared to a lot of people I know, I'm doing pretty good."
But when I started considering the perfection of Jesus and the kind of life he was willing to live, and then comparing that to my life and my heart, I was just broken by that. I looked at how I was failing my wife and my boys and how deeply rooted my selfishness is. I wasn't content to remain the same but had no idea how to change and be more like Jesus. I just came to a place of genuinely, desperately felt need for the forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, which was almost immediately followed (in tears a number of times) by the relief and freedom of knowing his tireless grace for me.
I'm still a wreck of a person inside, but there are things that just bother me noticeably less and I'm seeing a growing security in the identity and worth that God has given me through Jesus, which changes the way I interact with people.
So I'm curious if anyone else can think back to something that "clicked" at some point in their faith that changed their day to day outlook. Any thoughts?
Just thinking back on my life as a believer and some of the changes I've gone through over the years. I've definitely changed my "position" on some theological issues. But those haven't necessarily had a huge impact on my day to day experience of life.
In High School and college (with little random bursts since then), a recognition of the historical truth and reliability of the Bible had a big impact on my life, and injected it with purpose and faith. But in recent years it's been something different.
The truth that, when I really spent time considering it, actually began changing my day to day experience, is the combo of God's perfect righteousness and his tireless grace and mercy. Specifically, as I consider those things while deeply examining my own heart and life compared to his absolute holiness. It just began hitting me a few years ago that I was usually thinking "I'm a sinner who needs Jesus" largely in a theoretical sense. Like answering a question on a written exam. But I would secretly think to myself, "compared to a lot of people I know, I'm doing pretty good."
But when I started considering the perfection of Jesus and the kind of life he was willing to live, and then comparing that to my life and my heart, I was just broken by that. I looked at how I was failing my wife and my boys and how deeply rooted my selfishness is. I wasn't content to remain the same but had no idea how to change and be more like Jesus. I just came to a place of genuinely, desperately felt need for the forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, which was almost immediately followed (in tears a number of times) by the relief and freedom of knowing his tireless grace for me.
I'm still a wreck of a person inside, but there are things that just bother me noticeably less and I'm seeing a growing security in the identity and worth that God has given me through Jesus, which changes the way I interact with people.
So I'm curious if anyone else can think back to something that "clicked" at some point in their faith that changed their day to day outlook. Any thoughts?