Are The Promises Yours?

It’s one thing to know something for other people, quite another to embrace it for yourself. Maybe it’s hypocrisy. Maybe it’s blindness to our own faults or needs. We all do it.

I can give people the healthy meal prepping advice they asked for and then turn around and knock out a few slices of pizza. I can preach that people should be treated a certain way and then succumb to my sin and treat them poorly. I can let any wisdom I’ve accumulated over a couple of decades on this planet be spoken into the life of another and ignore it when it comes time to apply it for myself.

We are spectacular at embracing on behalf of others, terrible at embracing for ourselves.

There may be no place where this tendency is as dangerous and self-loathing as when it comes to believing the promises God has spoken, the attributes and roles He has affirmed about Himself.

It’s easy to slip into a vertical perspective when reading through Scripture, taking ourselves out of the equation. He is good…for that person. He is a Redeemer…and how LUCKY they were in that situation.

The reality and gravity of God will not rock us to our core until we stop just embracing and believing on the behalf of others and start claiming as OURS.

 

God is not just a shepherd – He is MY shepherd.

He is not just a redeemer – He is MY redeemer.

He is not just the Savior of this planet – He is MY Savior whom I need every second of the day.

 

I was hit with a simple truth earlier this week: I acknowledge and embrace God as a lot of things, but my heart is still hardened against accepting those things as MINE in so many places. I embrace the promises on behalf of others, but not myself.

Lord, forgive us, forgive me, for being so blind. Give us the strength to realize who You are in our lives.

So I ask you: Are the promises yours? Have you claimed all that God is and said, “This is MINE”? He’s waiting, He will strengthen, He will open blind eyes and soften hardened hearts.