Do you REALLY know who you are? OR have you allowed WHO you ARE to be defined by WHAT you DO, WHAT you HAVE, WHO your people are, or WHAT you LOOK LIKE? What if, TODAY, you lost your profession, your possessions, your people, and your good looks.
WHO would you BE THEN???
Don’t you WANT to know WHO you were BORN to BE instead of being what everyone else thinks you should be?
There is only ONE WAY to know who you were born to be…
You must know the ONE Who brought you to BE.
God’s Word is clear that…
“we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
“Workmanship”is a reflection of the one who does the work. Even though all of humanity were created in God’s image and for His glory, unfortunately, sin has broken our beauty, strength, and creativity. All around us we see the repercussions of evil in the ugliness and frightening destruction of humanity. Who then qualifies to be called “God’s WORKMANSHIP?” Well, Paul explains:
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:1-10
My friend, when we are born again, we are given the priceless opportunity to reflect the workmanship of Almighty God! When people know us, they have the opportunity to know God. When we love Him more than anything and assimilate the BE-attitudes of Jesus, He becomes our primary identity. The Psalmist wrote of being “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and he said “my soul KNOWS it very well.” Psalms 139:13-14
Do you know the marvel of who you are in Christ?
Developing our self-awareness about who we are in Christ is a daily process. We often must undo lots of wrong thinking. We must renew our mind and develop the beautiful mind of Christ. Every choice we make either—takes us FURTHER from, or CLOSER to—knowing God. The challenge (after we are born again) is to change what we think, say, and do to conform to God’s standard and thus, draw us into a strong sense of His presence.
When a strong sense of God’s presence becomes more important to us than anything or anyone else—we will ALWAYS know exactly who we are.
Re-read that last sentence again, and think about what consumes your time and money. What is your daily priority? Are you at risk for THAT being your identity? Whatever we think about and worry about the most—is what we worship. What we worship is our god. Is it money? Is it a relationship? Is it the pursuit of entertainment? To worship anything less than God places your true identity at risk.
You are risking—never knowing the person God created you to be.
If tragedy removes you from your career—will you know who you are? If death takes your children—will you know who you are? If disease takes your health—will you know who you are? What God offers us is—to know our true self—the one we were meant to know. We can know the greatness He created within us. The opportunity to know Him and thus—know ourselves—came at a great cost to Jesus.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8
Oh, my dear friends, seek to know God! He has given you a glorious purpose.
