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Who


Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)

           Yesterday’s post was about God’s glory and ours. I suggested that we glorify God by acknowledging God as God and that our best glory comes from acknowledging ourselves as what we are. Jesus knew who he was. The book of John is replete with Jesus’ “I am” claims.

          One of the problems is, of course, that we don’t tend to know who are or what we are. The story of the ugly duckling comes to mind, but it would work equally if we told the story of the ugly cygnet. When we misidentify ourselves or are misidentified by others, we end up as a parody of what we think we are or are supposed to be.

          I keep hearing that we think too lowly of ourselves. People point out that we are more than conquerors, that we are the daughters/sons of the Lion of Judah, the daughter/son of the king, co-heirs with Christ, victors, etc. Those things are true, but what does conquering mean to God? What does being a lion cub or prince(ss) entail? Jesus knew Himself to be the Son of God, the Messiah. He was not afraid to speak up or to take a stand, but part of being someone’s child is a general lack of the need to prove it to them or to anyone else.

          A second problem is time compression. We are not yet what we will be.  We are the children of the Lion of Judah, but it takes time to learn what that means.  We say “Hurry up!” and God says, “Not yet.”

          Who we are is important. I keep thinking that the key is not who we are, or what we are, but whose we are. Are we really convinced that what we declare to be real is really real? After that, are we content to actually be who we are or are we seeking someone else's glory?

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