Who Am I?
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
Who are you? When Coach Harrison in the movie, Overcomer was asked that question, he said he was a coach. Later on, Coach Harrison asked his Cross Country runner, Hannah, the same question, and she said she didn't know who she was.
"I'm a carpenter," my husband might say. But that was his vocation, not who he is.
"I'm a failure," a friend once told me. She was a Christian, and her marriage didn't survive. But divorce doesn't define you.
"I'm a shy person who doesn't know how to talk to people," might be how I feel, but it's not who I am.
So, how would you answer that question? Who or what defines you? Since we live in a generation that either no longer believes in God or they find Him distant and irrelevant to their life, they can only give answers like the ones above. Stephen Kendrick, co-writer with his brother of the movie, Overcomer, had this to say:
When you disconnect God from your worldview, it's like turning off the headlights, driving in the dark. And so when Scripture says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of both wisdom and knowledge," it is a knowledge of God and a respect for His character and who He is that turns on the light. When we discover God is loving, I can believe that I'm loved. When I discover He's the Creator, (I can believe) I'm created in His image.
Without God, it's like driving in the dark and not being able to see where you're going. You are always trying to figure out who you are. But never truly succeeding. As believers, we find our identity in who God says we are. We allow Him to define us. I tend to say I'm a mother with four children. I work at a hardware store, and I begin to list other things I do. I don't automatically think of myself the way God does. I have been reading a book that deals with this question. The author looks at eight different answers to the question, "Who am I?" that is based on who God says we are in Christ.
I am a creature
I am in Christ
I am justified
I am an adopted child of God
I am a new creation
I am a saint
I am a servant of Christ
I am not yet perfect
In the next several posts, I would like to explore further what Scripture says about who God says we are as believers, based on the eight things written above. Jerry Bridges, author of the book, Who Am I?, says, "There is no short and simple answer to the question 'Who am I in Christ?' That position involves both privileges and responsibilities. It involves some tremendously astounding truths about us, but also faces us with some sobering facts that are just as true." I hope you will gain new insight or be reminded over the next few posts of how God sees you and who He says you are, and as you ponder these realities, you will see yourself the same way God does.
Source: Jerry Bridges: Who Am I? Identity in Christ
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