Your Past Is Not Your Identity

0:00Good morning, family, and welcome back to Trading with Jesus. Before we look at the charts today, Acts chapter 22 gives us a powerful reminder that your past does not get the final word over your life. Paul stands before an angry crowd and tells the story of who he used to be, how Jesus met him, and how that encounter completely changed his direction. In Acts 22, 3 to 5, Paul talks openly about his past. He was zealous, educated, and deeply committed, but he was still wrong. Family. Sincereity does not always equal accuracy. You can be convinced your bias is right and still be wrong. You can be confident in a setup and still take a loss. You can trade a certain way for months and later realize some of your habits were hurting you. Growth requires humility. Then in Acts 22, 6 to 11, Paul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus and everything changes. The man who thought he could see clearly suddenly becomes blind. Sometimes God has to show us that

1:02what we thought was clear was not clear at all. Trading has a way of exposing that too. The market will expose pride. It will expose impatience. It will expose overconfidence. It will expose the need to be right. And sometimes the biggest lesson is realizing that the problem was not the market. Something in us needed to change. But Acts 22 is not a story about shame. It is a story about transformation. Jesus did not leave Paul trapped in who he used to be. Acts 22, 15 says Paul would become a witness to what he had seen and heard. His past did not disqualify him. Christ redeemed it and gave it purpose. Family. Maybe your trading story has chapters you are not proud of. Maybe you revenge traded. Maybe you ignored risk. Maybe fear kept you from taking valid setups. Maybe greed pushed you into trades that were never there. Learn from it. But do not build your identity around it. Second Corinthians 517 reminds us that

2:03anyone in Christ is a new creation. The old version of you does not have to keep running the show. You can become more patient. You can become more disciplined. You can learn to accept losses. You can stop chasing. You can become a better steward of what God has placed in your hands. But the greatest transformation is not becoming a better trader. It is becoming more like Jesus. Later in Acts 22 Paul explains that God called him to take the gospel to the Gentiles and the crowd turns against him again. Paul had changed but everybody did not accept the direction God gave him. That is another lesson. Do not let somebody else's opinion pull you back into an old identity. You do not have to trade the way everyone else trades. You do not have to take every set up somebody else takes. You do not have to prove your profitability to anyone. Your identity is found in Christ. So today trade from that place. When you lose your identity has not changed. When you win,

3:05your identity has not changed. When you miss the move your identity has not changed. Your P and L can tell you what happened in your account. It cannot tell you who you are. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for Acts chapter 22 and for showing us through Paul that no past is beyond your grace. Continue transforming our hearts and renewing our minds. Show us the pride, fear, greed and impatience that need to change. Help us stay humble enough to receive correction and discipline enough to apply what we learn. Remind us that our identity is not found in money wins losses or anyone else's opinion. Our identity is found in Jesus Christ. Use every part of our story for your glory and make us more like your son. In Jesus name, amen. Have a blessed day family. Learn from who you were. Walk faithfully in who Christ is shaping you to become and no matter what happens on the charts, remember that Jesus is king over at all.