In response to a number of my friend's thoughts on identity - theirs and mine, I add this to the mix. It's certainly NOT a definitive answer, but it might help? If it raises more questions than answers, which it MIGHT, then please comment:
I am accepted...
John 1:12
I am God's child.
John 15:15
As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1
I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17
I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27
I am a member of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8
I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10
I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16
I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
I am secure...
Romans 8:1-2
I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28
I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39
I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4
I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6
I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20
I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7
I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
I am significant...
John 15:5
I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16
I am God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6
I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10
I am God's workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12
I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
"The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity!"(From Victory Over the Darkness , by Dr. Neil Anderson)
MOVING SWIFTLY ON...the title of this blog is not meant to belittle our searching for identity, but I wasn't oringinally going to blog about that. What I WAS going to ramble about was my favourite carol.
It's a shallow tale, but worth the telling.
In the 'Olden Days', when I was bottom second trombone in our Corps band and when the SA Carol Tune Book was different than it is now, number 1 was Hark the Herald Angels, and as such became the first carol of Christmas - we had a methodical bandmaster!!
So , even though I recall my part being all the same note, or maybe I was just rubbish, those first chords of that classic Christmas tune really heralded (!) the start of Christmas for me.
I've scanned it for 'dodgy theology' and I THINK it's pretty clear of it,at least, there is no mention of Christmas Bells or candy canes.
Hark the Herald Angels sing Glory to the New Born King!!
6 comments:
Hey Sarah, - I pondered whether to reply on mine or yours and chose mine as it keeps the thread clear, if that's ok with you?
I really want to reassure you that the process you are going through at the moment is totally normal - it's part of your spiritual development and what ever we think, God will use this time to:
a) Bring Glory to Him and
b) Help you to grow.
Does your main concern relate to the fact that we are never sure when God actually begins His good work in us?
The bible ( Psalm 139) says that GOd had a plan for us before we were even born,which means that the good work started then, before we could actually muck anything up - cos all we knew how to do was...well, initially nothing, but eventually grow and eat and cry and poop and sleep and all that.
However, the theology surrounding The Fall, and original sin indicates that we are all sinners, even tiny babies, but tiny babies with HOPE because of what Jesus did on the cross. (That's why Children's Ministry is SO important!!)
Anyway, that to one side, I don't know if you read The Purpose Driven Life, but chapter 2 is fairly contrversial in terms of the suggestions made regarding why we are who we are - basically Rick Warren suggests that EVERYTHING about us is part of God's design - he even built in contingencies for the times we do drift off, so that THEY are part of the plan too.He goes so far as to suggest that even those children 'accidentaly concieved' were not an accident at all - God planned for them to be born too, which does raise questions regarding children that are born into poverty and cruelty etc.
Without making it all suger sweet, because I know that YOU have to do the searching here, I really want you to know that God HAS started a good work in you,He is capable of everything, and the reason we don't understand it all is because we just can't. Frustrating isn't it?
What we must do is keep checking out our questions against The Bible, keep talking to each other and keep talking to God, otherwise we could all end up going bonkers.
Woah! Yeah ok, so the verses are cool and a couple really hit the spot for me, but aren't you clever linking them to the Biblegateway??!!
OH, yeah that IS clever - I just cut and paste!!
Liz this is a great blog entry! I am going to print it out and force myself to read through those passages and their context during my quiet times. It is good in terms of answering the 'who am I?' question. You are right about needing to reaffirm who we are in God.
I also think you were right in your response to Sarah's comment
"Without making it all suger sweet, because I know that YOU have to do the searching here, I really want you to know that God HAS started a good work in you,He is capable of everything, and the reason we don't understand it all is because we just can't. Frustrating isn't it?"
It is something we have to search out for ourselves - finding our identity in Christ, and you're right - the Bible tells us who we are in Christ. What our searching involves is reading the Bible and actually accepting what it says. That, in my opinion, is the difficult bit.
Thanks for doing this, it really will be helpful.
I also agree with you about 'hark the herald' it is my favourite carol too. That and 'joy to the world'.
Kirst
xxx
The statements are taken from the Freedom In Christ website, if anyone wants to browse, the link is below.
http://www.ficm.org/newsite/index.php?command=whoamiinchrist
This whole who am I thing has come up so much lately that I thought I would write a poem about it.
Its at: http://kirstys-poems.blogspot.com/2006/12/who-am-i.html
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