Great Stuff From Evotional.com

Since I found Mark Batterson’s Blog a couple weeks ago, I have really enjoyed it, Today, I was knocked on my butt by several things he had written in his evotional! Great stuff! I feel like part of NCC long distance!

The section on Reproduced Illusions really got me. Here are a few quotes:

our perception of ourselves is based on others perception of us. To a large extent, we become who other people think we are. Psychologists call it "the looking-glass self."We live up or live down to the expectations of others!Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world."In other words, don't live down to the world's standards. Live up to God's standard.There never has been and never will be anyone like you. That isn't a testament to you. It's a testament to the God who created you. You are absolutely unique. That is the way God designed you.All of us start out as one-of-a-kind originals but too often we end up carbon copies of someone else. We try to be like someone else instead of trying to be the person God has created us to be. We settle for conformity instead of originality.

Let me try to say it as concisely as I can: if you base your identity on the opinions of other people you're worshiping their opinions.God's opinion is the only opinion that counts!Conformity is living down. Worship is living up.Here's the bottom line: you become what you worship. If you don't like who you're becoming you're worshipping the wrong things! Identity problems are worship problems. Start worshipping God and you'll become the person God created you to be.

Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You can't always change your circumstances, but you can always change your mind. Studies have shown that, at any moment, eight million bits of information are streaming into your brain. You've got to determine what you pay attention to.The Message translation of Romans 12:2 says, "Fix your attention on God." That's what worship is. You stop focusing on what's wrong with you and you start focusing on what's right with God.