"Incorrigible"

"As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones." (Psalms 109:18)

 Before I forget, Happy Mothers Day to all you moms! This time last year I was preparing to deliver a message from the Book of Ruth, a massage about how God takes our mistakes and turns them into opportunities for Him to do things good. People end up getting blessed by the stupid things that we might do; that is how it works in God's wake of mercy and grace. As to the point made, however brief, in yesterday's ending, Jacob and Peter are two people that the Lord changed their names, but then called them by their previous names after He gave them new names. As was trying to remember what my mom called me when I got on her bad side, and I remembered what it was: "Incorrigible." Oddly enough, she never called me that in public or while speaking of me with a friend or relative. Any time she spoke about me, she only spoke a praise and all the good things that I did; all the bad stuff she kept between the two of us. Looking up the meaning of that word, it means someone or their tendencies not able to be reformed, corrected, or improved. In a nutshell, that is you and I, believe it or not. Oddly enough, most people that consider themselves to be Christians do not believe it to be so; most people that are Christians think that God is reforming them and improving them, that their old self is being reformed, corrected, or improved. I can see where that way of thinking comes from, because it is woven into our society like the filthy rag that it is. Our old self cannot be reformed, it is to be reckoned dead and crucified with Christ; how can you reform, correct, or improve that which is dead? We are to be changed in a way that is considered supernatural and of God. Just as it was when the Lord gave Jacob a new name, Israel; when he was walking in his old ways or when the Lord was speaking to or of his old character, he was called Jacob; but when he was walking as a man that was governed by God, he was Israel. Only the new man can please God, because the new man is 'Triumphant with God.' Without God, not triumphant, with God, everything is new...

"In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowances for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us together in perfect harmony." (Colossians 3:11-14) NLT