Luke 7:47 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

“Mom always liked you best.” That was a line from the Smother’s Brothers show. It was an expression that people connected with because the reality of family relationships is one of personal perception that has no basis in truth.

We all become new creations in Christ when we become born again. We come into the Kingdom with what I might call a life hangover. We are aware of our past and that awareness affects our initial placement in this new family of God. We are still human and this new life requires some adjustments in our thinking and our perceptions. Neither are easy to do and we have to take our hangover medicine to get over the life we had to enjoy the life we now live.

If our self-image is one of being a pretty good person with few failures in our past life, we might not appreciate the enormity of what just happened to us in this new birth. In some administrations of faith they do not even address adequately the issues of rebirth. Doctrine becomes the standard of living without addressing the personal struggle of the individual in getting rid of life’s hangover.

“I’m still me.”

I have said that and I was wrong. It was a perception based on not accepting that I really had changed. The renewed mind in charge of identifying our new surroundings is negotiating with the will of God about what to accept in this new reality. Our perceptions of who we were in our past lives can affect our acceptance of truth in this new reality, Kingdom living.

This life hangover affects how well we love others because we are trying to find our place using old standards which also should have died at new birth.