Saturday, May 2, 2009

Overcoming the Identity Crisis......pt 1

Start seeing yourself the way God sees you


Recently I received a C.D, a newsletter and a pamphlet from Fountain of Wisdom Ministries entitled “Overcoming the identity Crisis”. It’s part of the Wisdom teaching tracts. As I read through the pamphlet and listened to the C.D,  thought again of how important it is to know who we are in Christ and to have our identity rooted and established in Him. I’d like to share these insights with you…..


The Bible says: “We have stopped evaluating (appraising, assessing) others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being………..What this means is that those who become Christians become new people. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:16, 17. NLT)

Your identity is your individuality or personality and one of the greatest crises in the world today is that of identity.
Who are you really? Are you who the world says or thinks you are? The world rates women by their looks and sizes, so a lot of us invest a big chunk of our time and money on those things trying to be acceptable. The trend in female fashion is for clothes to be as “revealing” as possible; it seems like the more sensual they are the better! The Bible says we should not love the world or the things that are in it which are: the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. (1 Jn 2:15,16) The world rates people by how much money they have, the size of their houses, the car they drive, the kind of clothes they wear, etc.

On the other hand, are you who others say you are? The apostle Paul said they used to assess Christ from the natural standpoint. People saw Him as a carpenter’s son and related with Him as a mere human being. They didn’t acknowledge who He was in the spirit. Even when he called himself the Son of God, they wanted to kill Him. The Bible says Jesus could not do mighty miracles in His hometown because of their unbelief: they didn’t believe in Him. Some said He was John the Baptist, some said he was Elijah and others said He was Jeremiah or one of the prophets. (Matthew 16:14) But thank God Jesus knew who He was; He was one man that never suffered identity crisis.

David’s family evaluated him from the natural standpoint. He was the smallest in the family, yet God had chosen him to be the next king of Israel. David was just watching over a few sheep, he had no military training; yet he was the one that would bring down the head of Goliath. He said: “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” (Psalm 18:34); he had been in God’s own military school, but his brothers didn’t know it.

Joseph’s brothers didn’t believe in his dreams.

No comments: