“If we find
ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most
probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
-C.S. Lewis
Some of my sweetest memories are of sitting
alone outside with God. Several of these
instances took place behind the chapel at Bible school. The town was small and fairly still with the
exception of the bustling of the students and the occasional mooing of cows in
the distance. As I enjoyed the various
shapes of puffy clouds against the bright blue of the sky and examined the
intricacies of all the different uncomfortable rocks on which I sat, I talked
to God. Unhurried and surrounded by
comfortable silence, I told him whatever was on my heart and mind, I read some
of His Word, and I thought about who He was as I drank in my surroundings. Then, I would wait. Sometimes, I could almost hear Him answer my
frustrations and my questions in my heart.
Often, I already knew the answers, but I just needed to be reminded and
reassured. He was always so gentle and
so patient, but direct.
It
was in one of these times that I told Him that He could do anything with my
life. In particular, I told Him that I
would keep loving and serving Him even if that meant that my dreams of marriage
never came true or that I would be living in some awful mud hut in a foreign
land (just please, Lord, keep the snakes far away!). I told Him I was willing and that I wanted to
be obedient, and I meant it with every fiber of my being. As crazy as it sounds, indescribable peace
filled my heart, and fear had no more place.
As I have experienced different trials and allowed myself to drift away
in doubt, discouragement, and fear, I have found that the quickest way back to
that sweet place of peace, surrender, and fellowship is the way that I arrived
there in the first place: by remembering who I am and whose I am.
Who I Am
When
trying to define myself, I am often tempted to list off describing qualities,
such as: wife, babysitter, organizer, musician, etc. In reality, these titles refer to my roles,
jobs, behaviors, and hobbies and fall far short when it comes to determining
who I really am. If I found my identity
in them, then I would be completely lost should they be changed or taken away. Fortunately, my identity is much more stable,
and God has told me what it is. As a
believer in Christ, I am:
And
SO MUCH MORE!
This
identity (or position) is at the core of every believer, and it cannot be lost. Neither does it originate within the
believer, but it is the gift Christ gives us of Himself. We believers don’t always act in accordance with
this identity, but that does not change the fact of who we are in
Christ. Paul understood this truth
better than most. He had an impressive earthly
pedigree and resume, which he outlined briefly in Philippians 3:5, 6. Continuing on in the passage, we see that he
considered all of it to be a loss in comparison with knowing Christ and being
found in Him. Christ’s righteousness in
him was far superior to any feeble righteousness that he could muster up on his
own. Paul’s earthly successes were
garbage compared to the value of the life he could live in Christ. He admitted that he was not complete and perfect
in living out his identity in Christ, but he also knew that on this earth he
was to press on in growing more like Christ and becoming in practice who he already
was in his position. This type of
thinking is completely illogical to the world, which is why Paul also pointed
to one very crucial aspect of the believer’s identity – that of being citizens
of heaven.
The
fact that I am a citizen of heaven is one of the most encouraging truths to me
in times of difficulty. This life is not
all there is, which gives me hope. I was
not made to fit into this world’s mold and to constantly chase after the ever-elusive
goals of temporary self-fulfillment, success, pleasure, and happiness. I was made for lasting joy, for meaningful
worship, for deep fellowship, for liberating rest, and for eternity. I was made to last and to be in a
relationship with the one who always was, is, and will be.
Whose I Am
Understanding who we are is only
part of the equation. We must also
understand whose we are. I know I have
touched on this in previous posts, but the answer to living a life unexpected
really all boils down to this. We are
not our own. We belong to Christ – to God. He has not hidden His character from us. In His Word, He has revealed that He is:
And, again, SO MUCH MORE!
He loves us so much, and He does not
find joy in our pain. Many cultures in
many ages have believed in gods who required blood sacrifices to cover the sins
of man. The one true God also required
blood to cover sin, but He Himself came down and met the requirement that His
character demanded. He could have left
us as lost causes to die and be separated from Him forever. We deserve just that. Instead, the Creator laid down His life to
save us, though He knew many of us would turn our backs on Him, hate Him, and
trample all over His sacrifice. He could
not give us a greater demonstration of His love. We will suffer in this life, but only for a
little while. For those who have trusted
in Christ, we know that we will have an eternity of the life that He offers,
which far surpasses any short, self-pleasing life that we can dream up on this
earth. We get little tastes of that
heavenly life when we take the time to worship Him for who He is and rest in
the identity He has given to us. For
those who haven’t trusted in Christ, He wants you to come to Him. He wants to have a relationship with you and
to give you an identity and a purpose that are secure. You weren’t made to go through this life
alone. We can trust Him to lead us
through a life unexpected.
No comments:
Post a Comment