Remembering Who We Are!

This morning I woke up with two simple sayings running through my mind - Remember who you are, and remember whose you are! These are both aimed at setting and establishing my identity, and are just such a good perspective to gain in life.

One of the major struggles in all of our lives is trying to understand our true identity. There is no more core need than belonging, and that has to do with who we are, who we belong to, who we connect with, and who our family and friends are. We long to be significant, to belong, to be accepted, to have purpose, to make a difference, and all these things are encapsulated in our identity.

One of the great deceptions that many of us live under is that we are insignificant. We believe that our lives don't matter that much, that people don't care about us, that we have no real meaning to our life, and nothing could be farther from the truth! We are, each of us, created! We are not an accident, or the chance pairing of a couple of cells, the accidental combination of the fastest sperm cell and egg, we are lovingly created by God. David correctly describes this in his Psalm 139:13-14: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

We need to know who we are, and whose we are. Paul wrote several times (Romans 8, Galatians 4, Ephesians 1) about our adoption by God, the fact that we are His sons and daughters. If this is true, and I believe firmly that it is, then we are all very significant. Just thinking in the natural about the royal family of England, it doesn't matter how distant a cousin, the fact that they are members of the royal family is significant. In the same way, we are each of us members of a far greater family. We were all created to be part of this family, wanted and loved from the moment of our conception by God our Father, regardless of our earthly experience. This is the truth, and much of our society and the messaging today would try to convince us of everything but this truth.

The awesome thing about adoption is that anyone can be adopted into a family that bears no resemblance to them, in this case I am speaking about the family of God. Regardless of our upbringing, our life to this point, our skin color, our gender, our looks, our abilities, our hair color, or lack of hair, we are all able to be adopted into God's family! Our past failures, our hurts, our wounds, our needs, our anger, our sorrow, our sinfulness, our mistakes, our broken promises, our wrong thinking - none of these can disqualify us from our adoption by the Father. He has already chosen us, we are not waiting to be adopted! That is the truth! He loves us, He wants us, and He accepts us as we are!

So the answer to the question of "who we are" is that we are the adopted son or daughter of God the Father! No one is any less than all the others, all the rest of us!

The answer to the question of "whose we are" is very similar. If we are the adopted son or daughter of God the Father, than we are His - as in "This is my son Sam". He claims us as His own! Not only that but we belong to the family of God, or to say it differently using Paul's analogy - the Body of Christ. We belong, in that the rest of the Body of Christ claims us as well. We may, like me, be the crazy uncle, or the slightly strange brother, or the different son or daughter, but we all belong to the same family, the same Body of Christ and we are all loved and accepted.

Let me say it again - We belong! We belong, in that each of us is essential and significant no matter how young or old. No one else can take our place, or fill in for us. We all have received gifts to be shared with each other! I like to think of the gifts we have received as like one of the board games we played as kids. You can't enjoy those games by yourself, they must be enjoyed with others. That is what our gifts are like - they are meant to be shared with the family. All our gifts are significant and meant to benefit the whole family. Having a certain gift doesn't make us more or less significant to either the family or to our Father.

I could go on writing pages, but let me stop here. So, this morning I am encouraged to remember who I am, and whose I am! It is good to remember this simple truth, and to tell myself that throughout the day, especially those days where I am under the circumstances. Lord, thank You for creating me and choosing me to be a part of Your family as Your adopted son, and brother to all.