Christian Self-Improvement?
One of the phrases I hear people use a lot is this, “I want to be the best version of myself.” If it’s not that phrase, then maybe it’s this one, “I want to live my best life.”
There are things we as Christians want to improve upon in our lives, and we set out to figure how to get where we want to be. We are looking for the 7 steps to Christian self-improvement.
What if I told you that is the wrong approach to the Christian life?
What if the Christian life was a lot less about self-improvement and instead about being made into a new self and learning to live out of who we become in Christ?
BEING BORN AGAIN
When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, Jesus didn’t tell him that he needed to become the best version of himself. He didn’t ask him what all he needed to improve upon to become a better person. Jesus told him that in order to enter the kingdom of God, he must be born again. (John 3:3)
Your biggest problem is not self-improvement. Your biggest problem is that you are spiritually dead because of your sin nature, and there’s nothing you can do to become undead! There’s no “7 steps to self-improvement” that are going to make you undead.
That is why Jesus had to step in. Jesus had to die for your sins so that you could be forgiven and He (The One who is Life) could come dwell in you and bring you back to life.
The moment you receive God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone, you are born again into a new self.
Here’s the way David Needham puts it in his life-changing book, Birthright:
“At the moment (you put your faith in Jesus for salvation) a new person came into being who had never existed before. You are not a repaint job, but a brand new creature. “
David Needham, Birthright
YOUR NEW SELF
The apostle Paul says that you are made into a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Your old self was in Adam, but your new self is in Christ. (1 Cor. 15:22)
Your new self has a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:26)
Your new self has a new nature. (Ro. 6:6-7)
Your new self is completely forgiven. (Eph. 1:7)
Your new self is made righteous. (2 Cor. 5:21)
Your new self is made holy. (Col. 3:12)
Your new self is a saint. (Phil. 1:1)
Your new self is a masterpiece. (Eph. 2:10)
Your new self is spiritually seated in heaven. (Eph. 2:6)
Does it really sound like you need to improve yourself or become the best version of you?
No, Jesus has already made you into a new you.
LIVE WHO YOU ARE
Instead of trying to improve yourself, you need to believe and walk by faith that you’ve already become who Jesus wants you to be.
In Romans 6, the apostle Paul is teaching the church at Rome about how they have died to sin. After he finishes, he tells them to then actually count themselves dead to sin. (Romans 6:11)
They were to believe this to be true of themselves. They were to walk by faith that they’ve become a new self and were no longer trying to overcome their old self.
The same is true of you. You live the Christian life through a walk of faith. You count your old self as dead and your new self as alive. You believe what the Bible says about who you’ve become in Christ.
You quit trying to improve yourself and walk by faith that you’ve already been improved by Christ.
Sure, there will be some old behaviors that will be dropped and some new behaviors that will be picked up along the way, but those are not improvements being made to yourself. That is you learning to walk in the new self that you’ve already become!
God doesn’t want you preoccupied with all of the improvements you think you need to make about yourself. He wants you to focus on the new self that He’s already made you into.
Stop trying to improve yourself and make yourself into the best version of you. Go live who you are. You are a new self. You are a new creation in Christ.
David Needham asks "Christian, do you know who you are?" in this remarkable and easy-to-understand rerelease of his book about the Christian's birthright.
He offers fresh insight into the theological problem of Christian identity, biblically based teaching, and a challenge for personal enrichment and further Bible study.
Birthright achieves an excellent balance between the theological and the practical.
The author's sincerity and candid writing style are guaranteed to buoy the spirits of readers.
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