Double Take Oneness Ministries

I often ask the question” what’s wrong with me?” I do, say, and think a lot of foolish things. I would imagine I’m not the only one who thinks this. We all have these standards about what is right and what is wrong. These standards are the results of belief systems, mostly corrupted beliefs. We have been taught to make judgements about who we are and how we behave based on these corrupt belief systems.

There is an important difference between guilt and shame:

Guilt – I’ve done something wrong. I was hurtful, I lied, I made a mistake. I sometimes make bad choices because I am human. Could have been due to outside pressure, painful circumstances, or underlying lies I believe about myself or God.

Shame – There is something inherently wrong with me. I did those same things, but it’s because I believe I am deeply flawed and it’s a permanent reality. It is just who I am.

The relationship God wants with us is very personal. And for that to happen at least three things had to occur. The sin issue had to be resolved, we had to be remade, and God had to move into us. He demonstrated His desire to make it personal by doing all three of these through the death and resurrection of Christ. He sent His son not to judge the world but that the world through Him might be saved. This was an astonishing act of love. And Gods love for us is unbelievably personal. He made us one with him.

God created us with needs for several reasons. So we would need each other, but mostly so we would need Him. Among those needs is affirmation. Affirmation is something declared to be true; a positive statement or judgment. For believers it’s more than just positive thinking. It’s a good thing to remind ourselves of the truth. But where are you getting your truth?

Are we three-part beings or two-part beings? And what part of us is a “new creation” – holy, righteous, forgiven and perfect?

At Oneness we believe the tripartite view (trichotomy) that as humans we are a combination of three distinct parts: body, spirit, and soul. It is in contrast to the bipartite view (dichotomy), where soul and spirit are used as different expressions for the same thing (the spiritual soul). And we believe this because God is three parts, Father, Son and Spirit.

It’s true that everything that happens in our lives shapes us. All of it becomes our story, and we tell it to help others know who we are. The problem is, we can allow the story we tell ourselves to define us. All the hurts, losses, failures, and even the wins and pride can become our identity. Although we are the eyewitness to our life, we can skew our story to fit what others think of us. We can interpret everything that happens or that we do as confirmation of our own preconceived judgement of ourselves. What we’re telling ourselves can get in the way of God’s version of our story.