Because of Christ, be what you will be, not what you have been.

You are a product of your past, but you don't have to be a prisoner to it...

Too many of us say we are "this" because of "that" while looking into the rearview mirror of our own lives. Many of us live angry, hurt, guarded, selfish, wounded, wounding -- et cetera et cetera -- lives because we are still experiencing today troubles and pains from the past. 

Many of us still live in what life as made us into rather than allowing the Spirit of God to empower us to live the life and be the person HE wants us to be.

Someone is tempted, even as they read this, to say, "Yeah, Tim, but you don't know my story."

You're right. I'll listen. 

I'll listen; maybe I'll cry with you. 

We ALL have a story; we all have pain. 

We all have come through the fire that burns, but we also can come through the fire that refines. 

I'll listen, but then I'll preach the excellency of Christ. Pray, Lord, you'd do the same for and to me. :)

Let us not be prisoners of our past! We don't have to be "this" because of "that"...we can be more!

In Christ, we can look at Him and forward to His plans and say the same thing, but with full joy and living expectation. "I am ________ because Christ ____________."

Examples:
"I am a child of God because Christ made way for adoption."
"I am rescued from hell because Christ paid for my sins."
"I am a man on mission because Christ commissions and sends me."
"I am loved by God because Christ opened the door of fellowship to the Father for me."
"I am a person of worth because Christ gave His life to make me His treasure."

On and on...get the picture?

We must break the hold of the past by believing God for the future He promises us in the Christ. Warren Wiersbe said, "We cannot change the past, but we can change the meaning of the past." I love that! We do not have to be who our past said we have to be. God does not change our backstory; He changes our future story. Praise God!

Because of my position (in Christ), I have access to a new power (of Christ) to live as a new person (like Christ) with new purpose (for Christ), enjoying an abiding presence (with Christ).

"...forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal..." (Philippians 3:13b-14a ESV)