I heard a new (to me) quote the other day from a post-man with a lovely, southern accent. While running errands, I asked him if he was surviving the very rainy day of mail delivery. "I'm fine," he said, "I ain't made of sugar." He smiled and jumped into his mail truck. I realized that I had never heard that saying before. I'm assuming he meant;
-I'm sturdy, I won't melt under a little pressure
-I can handle it, I've done this before and made it through just fine
-I've got this, I can weather a little storm in my life (and on the job)
I made my way back to my office and had the thought, "I think I'm mostly made of sugar. I really have a hard time when things don't go the way I've planned." I wanted to think on it over the weekend and my blog idea came together during the sermon yesterday. Our head pastor started a new series on identity and I thought I could definitely tie these two concepts together.
-What/who defines my identity?
-How does my identity affect my decision making?
-How does my identity affect my emotional responses?
-Does my identity help me or hurt me when things get difficult?
-Am I able to celebrate in joy when things go well for others?
-Who's am I?
So, as our church here in Colorado goes through this series on Identity, I thought I'd follow along with blog posts to explore the bigger question: If we were to live as forgiven and in a secure knowledge of our identity in Christ- how would it change us? We'll be tracking with Ephesians for these posts, The Apostle Paul had so much to say on this topic.
Our head pastor asked the congregation to fill in the blank:
I am _______________________?
I found myself spinning all kinds of answers through the blank. I tried wife, mom, friend, happy, emotional, a mess, tired.....I ended up on the one I think I'm supposed to believe the most. I am loved. With all the crazy trains running through my life every day, I find the most peace when I camp there.
I am loved. You are loved.
-By Jesus (he died for me)
-By my friends (they have great intentions and show up)
-By my family (they love me in spite of emotional mountains they climb with me)
-By my clients (they trust me with their stories)
I'm not loved by
-My ability to make every day a great day
-My ability to control my temper/feelings (i'm tired a lot!)
-My ability to control my circumstances by planning the heck out of something (things are always going to change because I have four kids, I'm married to a Hospitalist who's schedule changes daily/weekly/monthly and I work in mental health which is mostly unpredictable, I've moved many, many times, I have a tendency to see everything as a challenge instead of blessing...)
I sense a pattern here and I'm ready to do some spiritual digging to find out more about how my identity in Christ determines my outlook/perspective going forward. I'm mostly thinking of last week when I had my nice plan in place and three of my four kids came down with strep and the stomach flu. I so badly wanted to be that women in Proverbs 31 who, "is clothed with strength and dignity; who can laugh at the days to come...the one who's children arise and call her blessed." If crying in my mini van while my son threw up in his car seats counts, then yes, "I do many noble things." Except for yelling at them to take their antibiotics or you don't get cartoons. There's that.
Moving on.
What does Paul want us to know in Ephesians Ch. 1? He wants us to know that even before the creation of this world, we were chosen by God to be given freedom, grace and redemption through Christ.
Ephesians 1:3-8
3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace,which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding..."
I love this beautiful truth. If I know that I'm His, if I really know that there is plan for my life, for the lives of my children, a plan for the the crazy, hard things to be redeemed, then I can rest- in the story that's been written and the one that is about to be written. Identity in Christ, in the One who has, "marked us with a seal", left us in confidence with "the promised Holy Spirit." Eph 1:13.
So, this first week- If you are tired of being defined solely by your successes and failures, I hope you'll find some encouragement here. Please feel free jump in with comments and questions! Your assignment for this week is to read Ephesians Chapter 1 and answer this question in the comments section here on the blog.
I am _________________________?
Then listen to this song, because I'm bossy and I want you to hear it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWXWgbMDedY
Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on you
Devastate us with your presence, falling down
Rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy Fountain, consume us with you
Captivate us, Lord Jesus
With You
-Watermark
Thank you for joining in. Blessings always-
Sarah