You Are Who You Are

Today at church, the pastor was talking about God sending people to do His work, His Will, to carry out His command.
At one point in the sermon, Pastor Paul was preaching about how when God changes us, transforming us from our old self to our new self- he doesn't change "us". See, what He changes is our behaviours, our attitudes, our concepts, our beliefs.
Yes, that's a lot of change that takes place in a short amount of time. But I really want to focus on the fact that God doesn't want to change "us", meaning our personalities. We are who we are, and that is the reason God loves us. The Bible says that when God made man, He made man in His own image. That means, God is our Father, it's like, we all have the same Dad, and we all look like Him, just in different ways. So when He saves us from our "old self", it isn't our "self" he is trying to save us from, it's not out personality or character traits that he doesn't approve of, it's sinful behavior that He doesn't like. But that brings me to the next point, we as human beings, all have "natural" instincts. That some of us have problems with and this is where it gets dirty, this is where the testing begins, this is where God desires to do His great works in our lives. And everyone of us is different. We all have our own blend of personal habits, desires, likes, dislikes, and we all have the same life necessites to deal with also.
God desires to take us as we are, and show us that #1, He loves you for exactly who you are. Your smile, your hair, how tall or short you are, the color of your eyes, the sound of your voice, he loves every part of you. #2 He doesn't like to see you suffer. And, dear friends, no matter what capacity or what pleasure you might derive out of any type of sin in your life- it will never be God's best for your life.
Sin is not God's will for any one of us. It never was and it never will be. We have to have a clear understanding of what sin is, and what is natural and how to apply God's righteousness to our selves and lives to produce fruitfulness and to do His will. Just because we have natural instincts does not make those things in and of themselves "sinful". It is how we act on those things that makes them - and us, sinful, or righteous. Anger, sexuality, money, honesty... these are the top subjects that come to my mind. Everyone of these can be dealt with sinfully, or righteously. And our personality doesn't deal with these things, our personality is our display of how we deal with things. Whether we choose right or wrong- that comes from within. And if we really are serving God, we will want what is right... even if it hurts, even if it's not fair, even if we don't like it. Because we know deep down inside, that God wants what is best for our lives. And if He wants what is best for us, He will not lie to us. He tells us what to do: Love. When ever I do what He tells me to do,He proves Himself right to me- Every time. The more I obey what He tells me, the more He proves Himself true, the more He proves Himself true, the more I obey.
Its a win-win-win :) He is God Eternal.