Not Who You Are But Whose You Are

Do you really know your own identity?  This question is so deeply influenced by our individualistic and 'me' centered culture that it is almost impossible to imagine that this question doesn't even begin with me at all.

To know who you really are is to ask the question:  'Who do you belong to?'

In this Covid 19 era we may be discovering just how deeply we need relational interaction.  To not just hear a voice or face but to actually be in the presence of others.  It is wired in each one of us.  And this is evidence of something so much bigger that it's easy to miss because it covers our whole horizon and that is this: 

If you really want to know who you are, then it is matter of whose you are.

We all have been made in the image of God.  We bear His stamp upon us.  But there is a deeper truth that has the power to truly lift our souls when we realize and experience the fact that God has made us His own, which is a reflection of His desire.

To those who have said 'yes' to Jesus as their Saviour, you have been ushered into a relationship with the One who created you, knows you, embraces you, teaches you, plays with you, walks with you, leads you, watches over you, commits to you, and all out of a love that can never fade.

Your identity is that you belong and are loved. . .

Maybe you are feeling unloved and unlovable.  Maybe you sense that your stains have grown to the point that you can't help but feel their seemingly inevitable weight.  Maybe you are floundering in a pool of self-condemnation, and you are convinced that your primary identity is broken and maybe even ugly.

Jesus says something very different to you today.

Hebrews 2:11 says: "Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters."

With Jesus, you belong, and you belong because of love.

Would you take a minute to let that sink today?  God's love is greater than your greatest sin or fault or shortcoming or habit that weighs you down.  Let His love lift you out of that pit and the sun will shine much brighter on you today.

Who are you?  No.  Whose are you. . .and that changes everything.

B.

Mind The Gap

Ever felt that sense of disengagement that seems to sap your strength and stamina hindering you from feeling free to pursue more in your relationships, your work, and even in your own mind and heart?  It’s a general sense of feeling distant from the things that you know are better but just have a hard time stepping into. . .

On a small scale it’s when you know you shouldn’t buy that bag of chips and dip and binge watch the latest Netflix series, but you just don’t seem to have the necessary will to go and treadmill instead.  Or on a bigger scale, it’s when you know that you shouldn’t speak that harsh word to your son or daughter because it won’t help anyone in the long run, but that sense of disengagement causes you to express your frustration instead of moving into something far more productive and nurturing. 

Disengagement from better, more wholesome, productive and life-giving things. . .we all experience it, and we all sometimes feel helpless to avoid it.

Brene Brown, a sociologist and cultural observer suggests this important idea to help us to overcome this ‘gap’ between what we often feel/do and what we should feel/do.  She says this: “We can’t give people what we don’t have.  Who we are matters immeasurably more than what we know or who we want to be.”  (Daring Greatly, page 176)

Who we are matters the most.  Not what we have learned or what we think we know, but who we are.

And who we are is so much more than just the name we have, and the accomplishments or influence we exert.  Who we are goes right down to the essence of what makes me, me.

Maybe the most important aspect of discovering who we are is found in those who have the capacity to create who we are.  How long do you think that list is?  In my mind it stops right around. . .1.  God made each of us.  He desires that each of us find ourselves in our true identity, and that true identity is in relationship with Him.

And so Jesus makes a way back into real life. 

When you admit that to Jesus, that you want more out of life that you can’t get on your own, then you begin to open the possibility of living engaged!

It says in Romans 8:39 that nothing can separate a person from the love of God.  That is His fundamental attitude toward you and I.  But, our experience of that love is hindered by the fact that we have disengaged from Him. 

If you want to overcome that sense of disengagement in your life, then maybe it’s time to consider engaging with Jesus and letting His love transform you into everything you were designed to be!

Many blessings on you on your journey.

B