Becoming Real with Yourself

The Missing Piece:
Becoming Real with Yourself

Afterward
Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city,
near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick
people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men
lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him
and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get
well?” “I
can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when
the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat
and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish
leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the
Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up
your mat and walk.’” “Who
said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the
crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple
and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may
happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders
that it was Jesus who had healed him. John 5:1-15 NLT

To become Real with myself I must be willing to ask myself
hard questions

1. What’s really holding me back?

What do I think?

What do others think?

What does God think?

2. Am I worthy of Love?

Long ago the LORD said to
Israel:  “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With
unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” Jeremiah 31:3 NLT

This
is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners” —and
I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy
on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great
patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that
they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 NLT

And
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our
worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s
love. -indeed,
nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 NLT

3. Am I willing to change?

Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your
instructions. Psalm 119:29

My Notes