roadrunner570
January 20th, 2008, 04:27 PM
Who Do You Think You Are?
Many of us suffer from an identity crisis. We don't know who we are. We might think we know who we are, but we got it all wrong. If I were to ask you, “Who are you?” what would you tell me? Some would tell me their name. Great, thats your name, but who are you? Then others might tell me what they do for a living. Thats your job, but that will go away eventually, and you'll still be you. Others may tell me where they live. People move all the time. So who are you? Who am I? In the Gospel of John, I believe John gives us a perfect example of how we should define ourselves.
--He describes himself in Christ
Jn 13:23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.
Jn 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,”
Jn 21:7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
Now, most scholars agree this is John referring to himself. Some others have debated this and we won't get into all of the possibilities. I've researched this pretty heavily myself and I do truly believe John is referring to himself here. I won't bore you with the rest.
That said, just look at the simplicity of it. We see famous people on TV “Oscar award winning actor.....” “Billionaire business man....” or even “Convicted felon....”
The world we live in says to define people by their actions, whether they are good or bad. What you do is who you are. Here, the Bible tells us differently. We define ourselves by who we are in Christ. Many of us here have tough jobs or difficult family lives, and we are so quick to define ourselves by our circumstances. But through Jesus Christ, we are above any circumstances we could ever be in. Just think of how much easier our lives would be if we did this.
If someone asks you “Who are you?” what kind of response would you receive if you said, “I'm the person whom Jesus loves.”
Its no wonder so many suffer from low self-esteem or so many Christians think they are not good enough or that we're failures. Contrary to popular belief, Christianity is not a performance-based religion, at least its not supposed to be. While we do have things to do, and God has given us each responsibilities. He doesn't judge us based on results. He judges us based on our faithfulness to him.
--We are mighty warriors
I've written about this passage before, but its such a good exchange between God and Gideon, I just felt like it was worth covering again:
Jdg 6:12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
The Lord immediately declares Gideon a mighty warrior. So what does Gideon say about this?
Jdg 6:13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon here is looking at his circumstances. Life isn't what he thinks it should be and Israel is in trouble, so its obviously God's fault. This is the kind of things we do every day. Things don't go our way, and we blame God, but thats another topic for another day.
Jdg 6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Jdg 6:15 “But Lord,’” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
And here again, we see Gideon putting himself down. He's defining himself by the world's standards. But as we've seen over and over through the Bible, God doesn't just use the strong, he doesn't need to. Yet, we repeatedly count ourselves out from doing God's work. Its all in how we define ourselves.
So lets all pray on this, and take a close look at ourselves. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” I know who I am. I'm the one who Jesus loves.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA
Tim Miller 2008
Many of us suffer from an identity crisis. We don't know who we are. We might think we know who we are, but we got it all wrong. If I were to ask you, “Who are you?” what would you tell me? Some would tell me their name. Great, thats your name, but who are you? Then others might tell me what they do for a living. Thats your job, but that will go away eventually, and you'll still be you. Others may tell me where they live. People move all the time. So who are you? Who am I? In the Gospel of John, I believe John gives us a perfect example of how we should define ourselves.
--He describes himself in Christ
Jn 13:23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.
Jn 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,”
Jn 21:7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
Now, most scholars agree this is John referring to himself. Some others have debated this and we won't get into all of the possibilities. I've researched this pretty heavily myself and I do truly believe John is referring to himself here. I won't bore you with the rest.
That said, just look at the simplicity of it. We see famous people on TV “Oscar award winning actor.....” “Billionaire business man....” or even “Convicted felon....”
The world we live in says to define people by their actions, whether they are good or bad. What you do is who you are. Here, the Bible tells us differently. We define ourselves by who we are in Christ. Many of us here have tough jobs or difficult family lives, and we are so quick to define ourselves by our circumstances. But through Jesus Christ, we are above any circumstances we could ever be in. Just think of how much easier our lives would be if we did this.
If someone asks you “Who are you?” what kind of response would you receive if you said, “I'm the person whom Jesus loves.”
Its no wonder so many suffer from low self-esteem or so many Christians think they are not good enough or that we're failures. Contrary to popular belief, Christianity is not a performance-based religion, at least its not supposed to be. While we do have things to do, and God has given us each responsibilities. He doesn't judge us based on results. He judges us based on our faithfulness to him.
--We are mighty warriors
I've written about this passage before, but its such a good exchange between God and Gideon, I just felt like it was worth covering again:
Jdg 6:12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
The Lord immediately declares Gideon a mighty warrior. So what does Gideon say about this?
Jdg 6:13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon here is looking at his circumstances. Life isn't what he thinks it should be and Israel is in trouble, so its obviously God's fault. This is the kind of things we do every day. Things don't go our way, and we blame God, but thats another topic for another day.
Jdg 6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Jdg 6:15 “But Lord,’” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
And here again, we see Gideon putting himself down. He's defining himself by the world's standards. But as we've seen over and over through the Bible, God doesn't just use the strong, he doesn't need to. Yet, we repeatedly count ourselves out from doing God's work. Its all in how we define ourselves.
So lets all pray on this, and take a close look at ourselves. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” I know who I am. I'm the one who Jesus loves.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA
Tim Miller 2008