The issue is real. As evidenced by the thousands of tears and fears caused by insecurities in an individual’s identity, this is perhaps an area found most vulnerable by the unforgiving world. The world glitters and ‘shutters’. Ask a Christian if things like these matter and they adamantly stutter. Identity.
Every time this identity whirlwind comes in, two questions pop in mind:
What Defines Who?
Who Defines What?
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
God’s lesson for the prophet: It does not matter whether you’re stout and pout or lean and slim as long as your heart is trimmed for him.
This is perhaps one of the most potent arsenal of the devil— To bomb us with lies that tells us we are misfits simply because we are not like those people we like and we do not have what those people we like have.
Truth: What I have in this world and what I do not have in this world do not define who I am in this world, because I am not of this world in the first place. Last time I checked, my citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3).
What defines who? God’s Word defines who I am. God’s Word sets the course of my life. My trajectory is calculated and certain and I know where I will land.
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Highlight two things: Intricately and Intimately
Factory garments are mass produced. They are all similar.
Hand knitted garments are singly produced. They are different.
Of the billions of people in the world, we get to have our own finger print. No carbon copies! It’s all because we’re knitted personally and individually. Think: I got in me the smudges of my weaver!
What does that tell me? It tells me that I am not a lump of cell that gradually metamorphosed to become who I am today. I’ve been woven thoughtfully. God has intricately designed us for us to perceive that he intends to be intimately involved in us.
Who defines what? Because I am intricately and intimately woven, my identity rests on my weaver. My weaver defines me.
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