We all carry who we are with us is a comment I recently heard. The individual was relating it to someone he knew many years ago, and how he still recognized that individual all these years later just by reading something he had posted. I found this both interesting and quite true, and yet I wonder if we can short change a person because we have this preconceived notion of them. Surely, we can not tell everything about a person that we know just from something they have written.
Sometimes we want to be seen with fresh eyes, believing our efforts have been noted. We want others to have a perspective that is open to giving us another chance, to see how we have grown and changed. I don't want people who knew me 'once upon a time' to assume I am unchanged in critical areas of my life, and that I have not matured in my character development as years have passed.
The real point here for me is that there should be evidence of change if we are walking with Jesus. That is the simple truth! We will not be the same as we once were when we have shifted focus off of us and onto Him. We will know it and so will everyone who ever knew us.
Acts 4:13 NIV When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.