Monday, September 9, 2013

Who are you?

Last week, we talked about the question, "how are you doing?" and what it means to answer it honesty.  Lately, I've been thinking about the questions we ask ourselves, "What am I doing? Where I am going? Who am I really?" and thought it's worth exploring a little.  Being rather analytical (okay, obnoxiously analytical) and falling into the donut hole, I tend to focus on the "what's not there" than what is. 
But I digress...

The question is "who are you?" 


How would you first answer that question?  Would you say, "well, I'm a woman. I'm a man. I'm a wife. A dad. A daughter. A husband."

Or perhaps you'd answer with your occupation--as if the work that consumes your day has also usurped your identity. "I'm a mechanic, a pastor, a stock-broker, a technician, a teacher." 

And then we get to the more debated and uncomfortable answers. "I'm a homosexual. A bi-sexual. A fill-in-the-blank."  Identifying oneself by sexual orientation baffles me.  It's rather one-sided, wouldn't you say?  After all, I don't go around saying, "I'm a heterosexual."  Just interesting. 

Although this family's civil rights lawsuit became newsworthy this past summer, I didn't read about it till a week or so ago.  Without hesitation, this situation induced painful sorrow.   First off, I'm not here to debate whether or not children are "born" with a natural bent toward homosexuality or transgender tendencies.  Here's what I will tell you: I have three children, all with very differing personalities and passions, and all three (regardless of how compliant one may be over another) are naturally bent toward their sin nature. They lean toward the selfish and evil, not the right and good. 
  
God packaged each of my children with their own luggage (talents, traits, pursuits, and gifts); their suitcases aren't empty for me to fill as I choose.  At the same time, it's my job as a godly parent to help explain and instruct them on what each piece means and how to wear it to His Glory.  
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."

I don't know the spiritual state of the Mathis family or what they profess to be true.  But it seems rather basic to me that if a child is born with male parts, we need to lovingly instruct them how to be a male--not file suit with the school because they thought it best to keep Coy from going to the bathroom with little girls. I don't hold the Mathis family in judgement or contempt; I just feel deep remorse that our country has blurred the lines between what it means to be male and female.  Deeper still, I recognize the problems lies in the deception that many believe we are no one to start out with anyway--all is subject to how we feel or what "satisfies" us most.  Many don't understand themselves as a beautiful creation, because they don't acknowledge the Beautiful Creator.  If we truly saw ourselves as human beings created in His Great Image, we'd be first asking Him, Who am I? After all, who knows better than He? But this understanding of who we are can't come apart from our Creator.  The world doesn't have the answers. 

“Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ.”


― Blaise Pascal


But we live in a world that tells us everything is up for grabs, nothing is absolute--not even our identity. Even though I've known my Creator for a couple decades and think I "understand" who I am in Him, I have to remind myself continually of this truth.  Because everywhere around me, some other message is blaring in my face. And I know. I know. Peace does not come apart from walking in the light of who we are in Him.  

I John 3:1-3 "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."


Romans 1:18-25 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ... 

No comments:

Post a Comment