Luke 7:47 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

“Mom always liked you best.” That was a line from the Smother’s Brothers show. It was an expression that people connected with because the reality of family relationships is one of personal perception that has no basis in truth.

We all become new creations in Christ when we become born again. We come into the Kingdom with what I might call a life hangover. We are aware of our past and that awareness affects our initial placement in this new family of God. We are still human and this new life requires some adjustments in our thinking and our perceptions. Neither are easy to do and we have to take our hangover medicine to get over the life we had to enjoy the life we now live.

If our self-image is one of being a pretty good person with few failures in our past life, we might not appreciate the enormity of what just happened to us in this new birth. In some administrations of faith they do not even address adequately the issues of rebirth. Doctrine becomes the standard of living without addressing the personal struggle of the individual in getting rid of life’s hangover.

“I’m still me.”

I have said that and I was wrong. It was a perception based on not accepting that I really had changed. The renewed mind in charge of identifying our new surroundings is negotiating with the will of God about what to accept in this new reality. Our perceptions of who we were in our past lives can affect our acceptance of truth in this new reality, Kingdom living.

This life hangover affects how well we love others because we are trying to find our place using old standards which also should have died at new birth.

John 1:12-13 English Standard Version (ESV) ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Today’s bible verse became very meaningful to me today. I’ve read the words before but I had a nightmare last night and woke up feeling manipulated and guilty. Those are two very strong emotions from my past. That past is gone and over thanks to God.

Not of blood speaks to me that my parents are not to blame nor do they get the credit. They did not lead me into Kingdom living but their failures left me with a longing for something more.

The will of the flesh speaks to me about chasing after happiness and never finding it. Nothing I did to try and make myself happy filled that longing. Mistakes were made and only made me feel the worse for it.

Then I was born again and the past had nothing to do with my change, my rebirth, it was totally God’s will to do so. Being a child of the living God is nothing like having earthly parents. There is no way to compare this experience with the past except to say I am where I was meant to be from the moment I was born.

We all have a past that led us to Jesus Christ and every tale is different, even if similar. That is not unlike being born again. We are all children of God, the same yet different. How we are the same is in how God loves us with His perfect love. How we respond to that perfect love differs in each of us because pf who we were in the past and how that knowledge affects our love response.

Luke 7:47 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”