Psalms 146-147, 1 Corinthians 15:1—28 Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:10
There are words that are a part of our vocabulary today that our parents probably never heard. While we do not seem to use codependent as much as we used to, the word dysfunctional is easily attached to family. If you said “ACOA” a few years ago, people might have thought it was a reference to an aluminum manufacturer.
Now it is an acronym for “Adult Children of Alcoholics.” All these words carry the theme that people are affected by their past. Sometimes it sounds like Popeye talking. One of his favorite lines is, “I am what l am and that’s all that I am.” People “excuse” themselves with words such as that. “My upbringing was dysfunctional and I am a product of my environment”—in other words, “I can’t help myself.”
In contrast there is Pauline theology. He said, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (v. 10). God had worked in his life and changed him. The effects of his past were overcome by the work of God.
It can be the same for us. We may have come from a dysfunctional family and bear the effects—its negativity stamped on our soul, the destructive patterns ingrained in our thoughts, words and deeds. We opt for a Popeye theology, thinking nothing can ever change it.
But by God’s grace it can be changed; Our hope is that we are not inseparably bound to our past when we are children of God and have received His grace.
_Do you struggle with the effects of your past? Recognize the truth of what Paul says, grasp it in your soul and do not let it go. Determine to be able to say with him, “I am what I am—by the grace of God!” Let God’s grace change and heal you._
Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
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