Who do you think you are?

This is a question that can have two very different impacts on your life. It’s about how you see yourself and it is about how you are defined by others.

The people who ask me this are usually very close to me. They are people who know my past. Some are family members who knew me before I fully surrendered my life to Jesus. Some are people with whom I have briefly shared about the story of my life. Many are members of the Family of God who struggle with their own need to surrender to Jesus–without holding back anything from Him.

They all ask “Who do you think YOU are?” in an effort to put me in my place. The intent is to cause me to remember and behave like the person they know I used to be so that it I won’t make them so uncomfortable while they continue to pursue their own disobedient lifestyles.

These are the ones who need to tear me down. They are uncomfortable with anything that makes them examine what they are doing with their own lives. Some do not know how to be set free by the truth God has revealed in His word by His Son—The Word that became flesh and lived among men. They are not comfortable around those of us who have been set free. Some even admit that they don’t want to be set free.

From time to time, God asks me this question, too. When He asks, it is not at all the same. He doesn’t ask as a way to tear me down like those who feel the need to bring me down to their level. When God asks me this question, He is asking me rise up to His level.

After I cried a little over a recent bitter disappointment, God reminded me of a few things. He asked me again, “Who do YOU think you are?” and then he reminded me of the place where I have learned to go to find out how He defines me. His Word tells me who He says I am.

• He reminded me of who He has made it possible for me to become.
• He reminded me of how He wants me to answer that question.
• He made me to lift up my head instead of letting it hang low under the weight of disappointment, discouragement or that all to familiar depression.
• He told me to share it with someone else who needs that reminder.

One thing He brought to mind is another agreement intended to improve my life. This agreement actually promises to make my life “Abundant”. That is what my life has become because of the investment that Jesus made of His blood. That is mine no matter what my life looks like on any day of the year!

What if Jesus had decided that the investment He made in my life was too high? Thank God He didn’t!

God then proceeded to remind me of who I have become because of what Jesus did. Perhaps to prepare me for this situation, my Bible study over the prior month or so had been about God’s faithfulness. The following week I started study about what happened to me when I was adopted by none other than the Creator of the entire universe. Here’s some of what the Bible says that I am:

I am His child.

I have been adopted into His kingdom.

It says that NOTHING is too hard for God and that NOTHING is impossible for Him.

He reminded me that even though I may not have money in the bank, my Heavenly Father owns it all! To Him, the amount it takes to meet my greatest need is not even equal to the size of one grain of sand in the sea!

I am in God’s service. I am alive because He saved me. He saved me because He loves me! I am here for His purpose. This is what defines who I am today.

He reminded me of the prophet who had the nerve to ask the widow woman for her LAST bit of food! Read about this story in 1 Kings 17. There was a drought in the land!

Who did he think he was?

Not only did he ask, but she obeyed and was blessed beyond anything that she could have even THOUGHT to ask for! No one who serves God is unworthy of any investment.

Today I am asking you, “Who do YOU think you are?”

Have you been set free by the truth?

Are you a child of the Most High God?

Are you a servant of God’s kingdom?

I know many who have said they would invest in my life, but have abandoned that mission because the cost is too high for them. They also cut short their blessing. But God is faithful, even when we are not. Don’t let the short sightedness of men cause you to forget who you are. Don’t allow them to cause you to forget the investment that Jesus made in your life.

Whenever that question comes to you, you just need to take a deep breath and remember who God says you are. In the end, that is the only opinion that matters! I am ashamed to say that I misinterpreted the situation that recently caused me such a great deal of disappointment, but God can  use it for my good and we will overcome by this testimony!

~pk