WHO are you?

To have meaning in life each of us has to find out:

• Who am I?
• Why do I exist?
• Who made me?
• What am I to do with my life?
• How did I get to be me?
• Will I be held accountable for my behavior?
• Where would I like to be 10 years from now?

Analyzing those questions will lead you possibly into the truth about yourself.

Who am I? This is the most profound question you can ask yourself.

Everyone has a different opinion  of who you are: Your parents might not even agree with, who you are, even they know you all your life, always want your very best, because they love you the most.

Your peers and friends have another opinion, because they have a different view of your character. As beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so is character. Perspective is all important.

Who are you really? Who’s opinion counts?

Jesus asked his disciples: “ Who do you think I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

Peter got it right, because he looked at Jesus from God’s point of view. His answer was:”You are the Christ, son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

What does that have to do with you?

Everything! since  universal truth remains constant.  The planets will ALWAYS go around the sun and the sun ALWAYS will be central. God will not change, so we have to. By the way: Jesus is God.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=173041649401078
To find out, who you really are, you must tell yourself the truth and the truth is found in God’s Word.

Ephesians 5:29:For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. Verse 30 We are members of His body, of His flesh and His bones. That gives your body and person quite a significance!

(Genesis 1:26) You are made in the image of God. This gives you a very honest look at yourself. Even before you and your parents were aware of God, He was making you: (Psalm 139:15). Read the whole Psalm 139 to understand how much God is involved in 

your life and if He thinks you are special.

 

I don’t know, who said this: 

Quote: ”What I am is God’s gift to me. What I become is my gift to God. Is my gift worthy?” Check this out in your own life!

You exist to fulfill the will of another (See Book of Jude).

You are called!

You are set apart: sanctified!

You have a job to do, that is: to present Jesus to this fallen, cursed world.

You are kept and preserved by God, not of any other circumstances or coincident. (John 1:12) God made you His son/daughter! (Romans 8:16)

You could be child of God! ( John 1:12-14)

The best thing is, to have a childlike attitude to find out about everything, especially pertaining to you! Good teachers or college professors are people, who approach a subject from the eyes of a child. That is how they can help discern and convey a subject matter with lasting results.

Be willing to be known for what you really are. Anything else will take you into a phony baloney world of vain imagination, fantasy and daydreaming. If you knowingly live a lie, you cannot be friends with yourself and love yourself the way you were created to be, because you constantly have to defend the lie and other lies, that come along to support the lie you are living. The result will be: fear, unforgivness, hatred,  pride, concerns for your vain outward appearance, critical spirit and most important: depression and sadness.

 

To overcome you must give up your selfish ambitions to be loved, accepted, wanted, be superior or even liked. You must not want to prove anything, but totally surrender to Jesus, who at times might be the ONLY one who really loves you.

 

Jesus is hurt, when you keep pretending you are superior, mean, proud, desperate or angry. Accept instead who and what you are and allow God to live through you AS you are!

So face yourself and meet the real you!

Start with your outside! If you are a man, look like a man. If you are a woman look like a woman! Period. In the last days all is unisex. Unisex is against God and many scriptures support this aspect of male and female.

Do you have short legs, bow legs, weird hair, wrong color of eye, hair, skin? Are you too tall, too short, too skinny, too dark, too light, too clumsy, too whatever……Well, you might be all that and more! My take on that: Evidently God must have thought it to be beautiful and becoming to you, else He could have chosen to make you different looking.

So your hair falls out or your teeth are crocked, those are not eternal values and absolutely not consequential. If you really love Jesus you love the special way He made you and learn to embrace your whatever it is, that bugs you. Treasure this special attribute as a gift from God despite it’s limitation. Continue reading and don’t discard what I say, because you hate it so much. Stop running from the mirror of reality and face yourself.

You are a special creation! Paul had a thorn in the flesh also, meaning something was physically messed up.

You are special!!! No one is like you and that is on purpose!!!! Put the thing that bugs you about the outside into God’s hands: The lame will walk, teeth get straight…God can do all things and He will, because He loves you. Focus on God and not on the outward appearance. God will get you ready to be comfortable with yourself, to give an account of His goodness and grace. That is His will. If everything is perfect with you all you life, you have no testimony. In other words your faith will increase, if you have circumstances in your life, you can do nothing about and than God comes on the scene and fixes things for you. 

 

What is sinful/hurtful can be repented of, cleansed and forgiven. What is right and good can be embraced and lived with.

You want to be you and not like anyone else, because Jesus loves the YOU in you. Don’t measure yourself against someone else. It is YOU who is significant, not some clique Hollywood character or sports idol.

2 Corinthians 10:12:For we dare not make ourselves of the number , or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

 

The crowds standard is not your standard. There is no comparison. You don’t need to do what others expect of you to do: You do like Jesus does and go beyond their expectations as God leads. In that you are different from the worldly standards. Only in the body of Christ (His church) do we have such a vast differences and can cooperate in love: We have lawyers, grandma’s, trash collectors, clean shaven, bearded, Asian, teenagers, intelligent, blacks, accomplished, secretaries, painters, housewives: all in on accord.

 

The world/ lost people wants to be “individual” and by trying to be different they become alike: One has a nose ring, all think that is cool. Surely the first nose ring bearer has died many generations ago. One goes to college, they all have to go. All are in competition with each other.

 

You need to follow Jesus to make you an individual. If He has you to become a movie star, you go hook line and sinker. Jesus will set the pace, you don’t have to do a thing! BUT before you get the all out face mask of acting, drive out to Hollywood, get dressed for success: Have the roll you play under contract, preferably with a bank deposit.

If God calls you to be a singer: wait on Him, don’t prance out there in full code, borrow equipment and starve while you wait for a bigwig to discover you. Serve the Lord with your heart and He will lift you up!!! Your aim is to be respectable with integrity, not popular. The crowd never bothers to raise a high standard, or is grateful for accomplishment. Here today, gone tomorrow without compassion or regrets.

 

Anyone who goes all out above the crowds minimum standard, will be criticized, made fun of, ridiculed. The crowd picks and chooses, lifts high and drops low. The masses always have selfish motives. That is why it is so important you can stand alone, because with Jesus you are never by yourself and you always win!

 

The “in-crowd” could be outwardly very “religious”, righteous and respectable, but they are sinners, just like us. So don’t follow the “men” of God, but follow HIM, God Himself and His example!

There is a test by which you can know the standard: 

If you allow any sin in secret, knowing to get out of it, you have sold out to the “in-crowd”. In other words: You know it is wrong and do it anyway to please someone. You can’t make friends on both side of the fence. There are no ”fashionable” followers of Christ. God standards are always the same: LOVE and TRUTH

 

God’s people DO offend by not following the crowd populous. Children of God don’t care what people think. If they are, they have never been with Jesus to Calvary. If we really love God, we cannot love our reputation. Jesus wants us to pick up our cross (Matthew 16:24). That is who we are! 

2 Corinthians 6:17+18 says: Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate , saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

 

 The new findings of worldly psychology tell us about the importance of self-esteem. God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. So self-esteem is not a matter of thinking well of oneself ALONE, but also forgetting ourselves and  than God can live through us. We have to be self conscious in the sense of what our self wants: As followers of Christ (Christians) we want to glorify God. God built this need in us to have acceptance, approval, power and influence. Our self wants to be significant, respected and loved, may be even contribute to our generation. That is God given. So our real self-esteem recognizes what we really are= Jesus hands and feet here on earth, being His servant and  about His business: I give you an example:

Let’s assume you love music, you are totally get into the beat and absolute fulfillment takes place when you jam along. At that point self-esteem is not even an issue, right. You are so oriented  towards knowing and doing what you love, it does not matter what goes on around you. You are grooving to the music, the heck with the world or what anybody thinks. That is where Jesus wants to take you by reading His Word, serving Him, talking to Him, totally oblivious to all the stuff that is going on around you. The only way you can have this happiness is, if you surrender to God’s will and follow Jesus.

So do you have to wear nerdy clothes? Not necessarily: you are free to choose something that reflects Christ. 

Is a TV program exciting to you? Look at it through Jesus eyes and discern how good it is to spend time on it. 

Don’t get desensitized by looking at all the good in all things. What I mean is, don’t look at all the world has to offer and find something good in it. There is no good in it, except what God allowed. Everything is very perishable and rotten. Only God is good. 

Some people see the world to be so rotten and mean and say, “Where is God in all this?” Well, He is not in this world. He is in you, provided you are born again. He is in the Word, the Bible. Personally I think it is a miracle so many good things happen to us. People in power are usually corrupt, People with money mainly spend it on themselves, may be give some for tax purposes or to be popular. People drive as if they own the road. They eat as if no one else is hungry. They waist their resources as if there is no tomorrow….

Another frequent complaint about self discovery is: I don’t have any friends! Yes, you do: People who are hurting. You can bring them the gospel, people in jail or hospital you can visit. Don’t even get stuck on forever friends. Your family is forever, because God chose them for you.  You always have to be friends “first” to have friends. In other words, people will not be your friends necessarily, unless you are a friend first. Jesus sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

This is revolutionized self discovery: Job 22:21: Acquaint now yourself with him (God) and be at peace, thereby shall good come to you. Isaiah 26: 3: Thou wilt keep him (you) in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee (God).