Do we really know who we are?
Have you ever tried to define yourself? Have you ever tried to change your lifestyle or your thought patterns because you didn't like who you thought you were? I know that I have. I have gone back to school for higher degrees twice. Once to get my Masters In Divinity ( I know right, like anyone can master divinity), and now again for a PhD in Systematic Theology. I have changed my eating and exercise patterns to loose 45 pounds and then I went back to old ways to gain 50 back again. I have worked as a janitor, a grounds keeper, a factory worker, a lifeguard, a pastor, a college professor. I have retrained my thoughts so that I can better love my wife and not work all the time.
But sometimes I still find myself wondering just who I am. I am waiting to hear back from to possible employers for new jobs, I am also facilitating two online classes, and oh yeah, trying to write a dissertation to finish this PhD, and for monetary reasons I have seriously considered getting a job as a subway sandwich artist. Who am I, what is meant for my life?
One of the things that is so striking about Jesus in John Chapter 13 is that he knows who he is. Verse 3 says, "Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God." Based on this knowledge of who he was, Jesus then proceeded to act in love and service to his disciples. He takes off his robe, wraps a towel around himself, and begins to wash their feet. How many of us are secure enough in who we are that we would humble ourselves to to roll of a servant and wash the nasty, dirty, road weary feet of those we are supposed to be leading?
Jesus then goes on to encourage the disciples to serve one another is this same way. He tells them that one of them will betray him, and then he serves his betrayer food after already washing his feet. With all of Peter's boasting about being willing to die for him, Jesus knows that Peter will deny him...and yet he washed his feet. Why does he reveal these things to the disciples, the betrayal and denial, so that later when it happens they will know that, "I AM the Messiah." He knows who he is and it allows him to serve, to suffer, to be betrayed and denied, and to still love those who will do these things to him. To still love us...who's sin requires his sacrifice. He is the son of God and he knows his purpose, he knows who he is in relation to the Father.
Who are we in relation to the Father? We are children of God...I am a child of God. Because of what Jesus did I can know who I am, even if I don't know who will hire me or what I will be called to do next. In the same way that this was Jesus' anchor for his life and mission, this must also be our anchor. We are children of God and he loves us.
May we know today that we are children of God...and may we serve and love because of it wherever we are, with whatever level of clarity we have about what is coming next in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment