https://frankviola.org/2019/02/07/6affirmations/
“The Bible talks an awful lot about ‘renewing’ our minds. Affirmations like these are part of that renewal process. And no matter how seasoned a person is in the kingdom, we’re never beyond being reminded of who we are and where our allegiance lies” (Frank Viola). When we make affirmations, we assert that they are statements of truth. We also renew our conviction that they apply to us. In that way, when we affirm these truths, they also affirm us. They are a means of learning to live by the life of Christ while letting go of the confidence that we have in our natural abilities.
All of these affirmations together are an expression of trust. We trust that, in spite of all the adversity that surrounds us, our Lord is with us and in His presence there is joy. We trust Him enough to commit each day into His hands. This trust frees us from expectations, which set us up for disappointment. We trust that the events of the day will be tailor-made by God to accomplish His eternal purpose. That purpose includes our personal transformation. Today, each person and every challenge that we encounter is for good, both His and ours. Trust enables us to respond to those people and challenges, not out of our own nature but out of the life of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we trust that He has emancipated us from the oppressive world system that surrounds us. We look beyond that system to the reality of His kingdom.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:4). The poor in spirit keep placing their trust in God rather than themselves. They are willing to loosen their grip, to surrender themselves repeatedly to the love of God. In so doing they shake loose from the power of sins, from the dominion of the soul and from the world system.
Then they go further, surrendering that liberty to the love of God. They become His spiritually mature sons and daughters. We see the outcome in the prophet Daniel’s remark, “… that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17). Of course, Jesus is truly the lowliest of men, but the poor in spirit have joined his company. God can safely give these people authority over His Kingdom.
And we have taken at least the first steps on this journey. We are learning that, in Christ, sin and death have no claim on us. That our old, self-centered nature has no claim on us. That the imperatives of everyday life have no claim on us. That the only claims that we need to recognize are those of Jesus Christ.
How does this work out in practice? It will be different for each of us. But I have found, at the beginning of the second letter of the apostle Peter, some hints about how to make progress.
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1b-8)
Everything here is a gift from God through Jesus Christ. Our faith, and grace itself, and peace, and all things that pertain to life and godliness—all of it comes to us by His power. It doesn’t depend on us whatsoever. And then there are the promises, which He has already granted to us, leading up to our transformation: joining in partnership with the divine nature!
After Peter says all of that, he invites us to “make every effort.” If it’s all a gift and an inevitability, what is the need for effort on our part? In my youth I learned a proverb that somehow didn’t make it into the Bible: “a man will sit with his mouth open for a long time before a roast duck flies in.” If we are growing into mature sons and daughters we can’t expect always to be spoon-fed. Jesus invited his disciples to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:9). He also said that the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it (Luke 16:16). In the passage above, Peter refers to faith, virtue (also known as moral excellence), knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love—all of which truly are gifts. They are, in fact, characteristics of Jesus. For our part, we can let them grow in us. And we can supplement them by reaching out for more.
This is where we see the value of affirmations. They remind us of who we are in Christ Jesus. They give us an opportunity to ponder anew our allegiance to Him. And they keep the way clear for Him to make, more and more, His promises a reality.
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