More Than Conquerors (2)
Sometimes you have to overcome your family environment. None of us come from an ideal family. Many will experience things like rejection; physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse; poverty; rage; drug addiction; alcoholism; divorce etc. Years later we still struggle with things like low self-worth, marriage failure, loneliness, depression, addiction, anxiety, anger control and dysfunctional parenting. But having a bad start doesn’t mean you can’t have a great finish. Your life today is more than what happened yesterday; it’s about what you do with what happened yesterday. Consider Jephthah’s family background. He was born to a prostitute, kicked out of the house by his brothers, robbed of his rightful inheritance, mistreated by religious leaders, and became a refugee and rebel living in a cave (Judges 11). But he didn’t give in! He defied defeat, trained a motley army of rejects, delivered Israel from their enemies, and made it into faith’s hall of fame with Abraham, Moses and David (Hebrews 11). How did he do it? He started where he was, he took what he had, and he did what he could. By faith he seized his God-given opportunity. You are more than the product of your environment. Whatever happened back then, you’re now ‘...a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT) Live in the new and renounce the old! ‘He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.’ (1 John 4:4 NKJV)