Skip to main content

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?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more