I am not that any longer

 For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth. (Psalm 33:4-5)

Notice - we can trust everything he DOES. Our passage doesn't just point to everything he SAYS - it focuses on both his Word (what he says) and his actions (what he does). He backs what he SAYS by what he DOES. Why do we think God would expect anything less of us? We SAY a lot (promising to do this or that), but we actually DO a lot less than what we say. 

As my pastor pointed out this weekend, we do what we do because of how we see ourselves. We see ourselves as failures, and we fail. We see ourselves as victors, and we come closer to total victory than we would have if we saw ourselves as failures in all we do. We TELL ourselves a whole bunch of stuff about ourselves that actually LIMITS our behavior (either in a good way or in a bad way).

God doesn't tell us to focus on the bad within us (the failure mode). He tells us to consider, ponder, mull over, repeatedly focus upon what is just and good. Nothing will hold us back more than focusing on the 'failure mode' within us. When we want to focus on what is just and good, we need God's Word within, his Spirit working within, and his grace giving us a plan to embrace justice and goodness with everything within us.

When we 'reformat' the way we think about ourselves, we have the ability to overcome the habits we may have wanted to let go of for years. When we focus on Christ, not the failures of our lives, we will see a change in our response to what life puts in our path. Truth is that we are a new creation IN CHRIST JESUS. Truth is we are not the same old man or woman we WERE (past). Embrace truth - embrace grace - embrace God's help. Truth, grace and justice are our present condition. Just sayin!