Who are you? I mean really. Who are you? What are you doing here on this earth?
From where or what do you claim your identity? I’m the baby of the family. I’m a small-town girl. My family hails from Germany. I’m a wife. I’m a mom of boys.
On and on it can go, searching for ways to describe ourselves or our lives. But, what do all of these identifiers have in common? Can you find it?
All of these descriptions of me are based on my similarities or comparisons to things in this world or other people. If someone asked you, “so, tell me something about yourself,” what would you say? Better yet, how do you think of yourself?
Recently, I spoke at the Rooted in Faith women’s conference where we were teaching about our identity in Christ. My message was this: Look UP, not around!
We should look UP, not around, for our identity because these two statements are true:
- You are God’s vessel (not your own); and
- You are loved, chosen, and filled!
You were formed and created by God. He made you just the way you are for certain reasons, His reasons. Consider these scenarios: if you took several hours creating a fantastic sand castle on the beach, would someone else have the right to walk by and kick it over? Or, would you allow your child to run over and destroy another child’s lego creation? Of course not, right?
But, what if you wanted to knock down your own sandcastle before you left the beach? What if your child decided to ditch the lego project and tear it apart? That would be okay. It would be the creator’s prerogative wouldn’t it?
My friend, you are no different. God created you. How you’re made is how God designed you. What happens to you and how He decides to use you, shape you, reform you is up to Him. You exist only because God formed you and keeps you on this earth. When you look around at others, comparing yourself to them, you most likely begin to question God’s design. This is dangerous thinking:
“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?” ~Isaiah 45:9
Instead, we should train our minds to think this way each time we begin to ponder our weaknesses, strengths, or circumstances:
“But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.” ~ Isaiah 64:8
Whatever we are, whatever we have, whatever we experience — all of it needs to remain in its proper place — in the mighty hands of our Creator God.
You are His. God’s vessel, created by the potter Himself. You were formed a certain way to serve the One who created you. Look to Him, the One True God, to tell you who you are and what your purpose is in this life.
The God who created everything in the universe knows your name and He boldly declares that you are His:
“But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!” ~ Isaiah 43:1-2
Don’t let anyone else (or yourself) knock down or kick over His creation! No one has that right except God Almighty — not even you!
Next week, I’ll post Part 2 of this lesson: You are loved, chosen, and filled!