The gospel according to washing toilet seats.

Riddle me this: My haitian daughter who grew up 9 years in an orphanage in haiti is a mini-germaphobe.

She won't touch a shopping cart until she wipes it down with wet wipes.
She won't use public library headphones without really cleaning it.
And she has to scrub her hands after every hand shake.

Okay so I made that last one up. But not this one. This one, as crazy as it sounds is true...

My daughter washes down public toilet seats before she uses it.
That was not a typo. I didn't mean to say wipe. I meant wash. With soap and paper towels.

Did I mention she grew up in haiti? In an orphanage? Where she shared an outside public restroom with 30 other girls... and she only had a handful of clothes and underwear [which she did not trade for chicken by the way].

And now she washes toilet seats?

I didn't get it so I asked...

"Bebe... a year ago, you were using a hole in the ground as a bathroom. How can you go from that to being like this now?"

She looked at me and very matter of factly said:

"Because I'm not who I was dad".

Man... if there was ever a 'daddy-daughter' Kodak moment I could frame forever, that would be one.
I was so proud of her.

"I'm not who I was"

The sad thing is, even though she's now my forever daughter I sometimes still expect her to respond to situations like an orphan.
I think she should do this or do that because she grew up in her orphanage.

But she doesn't see it that way. Because she has fully bought into her new identity, she is actually convinced that she's not who she was.

It makes perfect sense to her that she would do things that she would have never done a year ago.

She even expects to respond to situations like any other 13 year old American girl would even though she's only been 'American' for about 13 months.

In her mind, her new identity from age 12-13 trumps her old identity from age 1-12.

Once she called us mom and dad she was in forever.
Once that judge said you're adopted, she became an 'Adebiyi' for life.

She was no longer who she was.

Imagine if we had the same faith about our new life in Christ!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! [2Cor5:17]

Imagine if you believed Paul when he says you are not who you were!
Imagine if we think it normal to do things that we'd never have done before we met Christ!
Imagine if we expect to respond to situations like Paul or Moses or Elijah [even though we're not as ‘experienced’ as they were] because the Spirit lives in us!

Imagine if we believed that we were no longer slaves to sin!
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. [Galations2:20]

What would happen if we believe that we are no longer who we were? 
Lets talk.

Why is it so hard for us to live in light of our new identity? 
What is the hardest thing to believe about the new you? [Forgiven... Justified... Righteous... Adopted...Free from sin etc]

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