Over the last year or so there has been a real surge in encouraging church memes. You know the ones: those photos that appear in your stream on social networks like Facebook that have the pretty background and the cool text over them. Sometimes they really turn on the juice by putting the little”-God” tag at the bottom of the quote. You’re like, “Snap, I better pay attention to this one. GOD said it!”

Now most of them are great. They feature Bible verses or encouraging little quips. But I’ve come across a few here recently that are happy thoughts, but they’re also kind of bad theology. They make you feel good, but they aren’t exactly biblical. They seem good, but they are misguided in that they aren’t really supported by what the Bible teaches.

And that’s where we have to be really careful these days. Are the creators of these bad theology memes trying to throw you off? I don’t think so. But we have to be very careful that something designed to make us feel good inside also reinforces what the Bible actually teaches. I’ll give you an example.

This is a nice churchy, feel good meme. Nice colors. Cool font. It really is pretty. You can tell the girl in the background did something she isn’t proud of, which relates to just about every one of us. And then you read the text. “Your mistakes do not define you.” It makes you feel good inside. You think for a moment, “I’m not identified by the thing I did.” That’s awesome, right? But is that what the Bible teaches?

How are we defined?

Have you ever introduced yourself to someone? Normally it is, “Hi, I’m whomever.” They respond with their name. You ask about how they are doing. They reciprocate. Then nine times out of ten, you ask what the person does for work. “What do you do? A pastor? A student? A molecular physicist at Cal-Tech?” The two most important things we use to identify ourselves to someone we’ve never met is our name and our occupation. We are defining ourselves. I am identified by the word Jason and I am defined by what I do, by my actions, good or bad.

This is one of the reasons this churchy meme makes us feel good. It is because it helps minimize our responsibility for our own actions. “It wasn’t the real me that did what I did.” In Luke 6:44-45, Jesus is very clear about our actions when he taught that, “For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. (NKJV)

We are defined by our actions. If someone shoplifts, we define them as a thief. If someone is having an affair, we define them as an adulterer. If someone hugs you every time they see you, they are a hugger! Whatever it is, good or bad, an occupation, a sin, a mistake, we define a person by that thing. It is all based on our actions, on what we do. That doesn’t make us feel very good inside, I know, and mainly because our actions all of the sudden play a massive role in defining who we are. A tree is known by its fruit.

This Luke passage makes it very clear what the issue is. We are born into a sinful world, and because of that we are defined as a sinner. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Everyone. That means we come into this world defined by our action of sin that finds its roots in the treasure of our evil hearts. It is really depressing, isn’t it? Hang on, there’s good news. GREAT news!

The truth is, we are defined by our mistakes, even from the very beginning. But the great news is that Jesus is dedicated to the process of redefining we are! Through Jesus Christ, our defining moment is no longer our birthday. It’s our rebirth day.  Jesus doesn’t patch up broken people. He doesn’t apply metaphorical Bondo to the human heart. He gives us a new one. He doesn’t cover up our flawed beings with a coat of Jesus paint. He makes ALL things new. (2 Cor 5:17)

This means that we are no longer slaves to the sin, the mistakes, that have defined us since birth. Now we are free to walk in the freedom that comes with that new creation, our new definition: child of God.

And on top of that, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and have become that new creation, you entered into a process of continually redefining who you are. This process of becoming more Christ-like, more holy, is called sanctification. The description of who you are gets better with every day you spend with Jesus!

Now, you can rest assured that your old life is going to come knocking back on your door, trying to lure you back to a definition of who you were that is dead and gone. It wants you to reassume your title from before you met Jesus. And honestly, sometimes we do fail. Yes, sometimes Christians sin. But even if we do stumble, God’s grace and mercy spring into action, and as we encounter the kindness of our God, it leads us straight to repentance. (Rom 2:4) And it reminds us that though our actions do define us, much more so does God’s love as we live to honor and worship him.

Now THAT’S encouraging.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (ESV)

Be redefined,
J

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