Who are you?

Posted on Aug 13, 2016 in Faith Focus |

I hope you have set aside some time this week to watch the Olympics. It is amazing to see the athletes perform at such high levels. Sometimes I enjoy the little stories that they feature about the athletes almost as much as the competitions.

The stories give me an appreciation of what has led up to the race or performance I am about to witness. I have noticed a couple of common themes in these mini-biographies. First, there always seems to be a reference to a dedicated parent(s). I am glad to hear the Olympic athletes mention how their parents would spend hours and hours each week with them, encouraging them, and bringing them to one practice after another and how thankful they are to them. The stories often contain examples of how the parents sacrificed much in order to give their child the chance to be “the best”. What you also hear in these little features is how the sport becomes for many of their athletes their lives. They may not say it in just that way but you can hear it and see it. Some become consumed. They eat, drink, and sleep swimming, running, gymnastics or diving. Almost everything that goes on around them is somehow touched by their sport. We have all also heard the stories of fanatical parents who push their kids to hard. Or kids who develop eating disorders or other psychological problems because of the pressures that surround their pursuits. It is not hard to understand how before someone even knows it, they have become their sport and their sport has become them.

During the course of the summer Olympic games I have heard several athletes reference God. Perhaps the most inspirational of these comments came from an Olympic diver (and his teammate). The divers name is David Boudia and after winning a silver medal he shared about how he views himself and how he keeps the right perspective on his diving. He said, “When my mind is on this (diving)and thinking that I’m defined by this, my mind goes crazy,” Boudia said. “But we do have to know that our identity’s in Christ”. His diving teammate echoed his words when interviewed.

The diver’s comments got me thinking about how we define ourselves. Who are you? Are you defined as a parent, a marketing executive, a teacher, an engineer, and psychotherapist, the spouse of…the member of…., a New Yorker, an Italian?

David Boudia’s comments ground us in a great spiritual truth. Out identity is in Christ. It is our relationship to Him that lays the greatest claim on who we are. After all, what about you is any more significant than you being a child of The Lord on High? What has more to say about you than you have been redeemed by the very blood of God? What even gets close to defining you as much as being sealed by The Holy Spirit? Is there anything that is even in close proximity to the significance of you being one of the saints that has been adopted into God’s family? How do you define yourself when you talk about yourself to others?

Even though we are not Olympic athletes, I think that sometimes it is just as easy for us to get caught up in being defined by the things we do, or our relationships to people or things. Today I want to encourage you to consider the list below. Take some time an read it all the way through and be reminded of who you really are and what Christ has done for you and why He deserves all the glory and praise.

Be amazed……be awe-struck…..be praise-filled. You are His.

The Word of God Says in Jesus Christ…

I am faithful (Ephesians 1:1), I am God’s child (John 1:12), I have been justified (Romans 5:1), I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15), I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20), I am a member of Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:27), I am assured all things work together for good (Romans 8:28), I have been established, anointed and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22), I am confident that God will perfect the work He has begun in me (Philippians 1:6), I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20), I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7), I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (1 John 5:18), I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), I am chosen before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11), I am holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4), I am adopted as his child (Ephesians 1:5), I am given God’s glorious grace lavishly and without restriction(Ephesians 1:5,8), I am in Him (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30), I have redemption (Ephesians 1:8), I am forgiven (Ephesians 1:8; Colossians 1:14), I have purpose (Ephesians 1:9 & 3:11), I have hope (Ephesians 1:12), I am included (Ephesians 1:13), I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), I am a saint (Ephesians 1:18), I am salt and light of the earth (Matfthew 5:13-14), I have been chosen and God desires me to bear fruit (John 15:1,5), I am a personal witness of Jesus Christ(Acts 1:8), I am God’s coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1), I am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20), I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5), I am raised up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12), I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6), I have been shown the incomparable riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:7), God has expressed His kindness to me (Ephesians 2:7), I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), I have been brought near to God through Christ’s blood (Ephesians 2:13), I have peace (Ephesians 2:14), I have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18), I am a member of God’s household

(Ephesians 2:19

Rob

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