You don't have to get any A's.
You don't have to finish graduate school quickly.
You don't have to stay in graduate school at all.
You are free, so what's going on?
Who are you disappointing?
Who are are afraid of?
What's your ID?
Inherent Dignity or external achievements?
All the money in the world belongs to God. Remember that because it's true.
Your body might feel like your last shred of dignity, but what does that imply about your inherent dignity?
“When all has been heard,
the conclusion of the matter is:
fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Whatever the present matter at hand is, the conclusion is the same for all humanity.
Some matters at my hand:
God,
Should I stay in school, yes and no.
Open a website? For my blog, yes and no.
Move out? Yes and no.
Find a job? Yes and no.
Apply again to SFF? Yes and no.
Go to another church, no and yes.
See a therapist, yes and no.
I can do all of the above because I'm free to just be by being in Jesus.
----
Have you ever thought about your identity? What makes you, you? Do you identify yourself by your job (or lack thereof)? Do you identity yourself by your reputation given to you by your friends and family? Or do you have no clue and no care as to having an identity at all? Who are you?
Someone else was asked this question in the bible and it's a good way of helping us understand the truth about our identity. Who are you and what does your identity say about you?
I want us to imagine for a moment what it was like for this person to be asked this question by all his peers and people of different levels of prestige. It's not unlike a time when you went to some social gathering (like a party or a meeting) and people started asking you what you do or where you're from. In fact, the scene I'm about to describe is just like that, so if you can try and place yourself in his shoes as if these people were asking you. How would you respond?
“Who are you, then? ” they asked.
“We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ”
Now, at this point it's likely that the nerves or filters in our mind begin formulating some kind of acceptable response. We want to say what we do or what hobbies we have that are interesting or noteworthy, basically we want to put our best foot forward. These people sound a bit demanding about knowing who we are, saying "we need to give an answer to all our friends who sent us to ask you! So what can you tell us about yourself? Their words and tone might make us feel like they're really asking, "What makes you so great that we should want to hear what you have to say? What makes you worth anything?" It almost sounds like the response we give is going to be kind of permanent so the pressure is on! We start thinking inwardly about the consequences of what might come out of our mouths. Will we give a good answer or a weird one? Will our answer be cool? What if they don't like what we say or we sound uninteresting to them and consequently to all those people they are then going to report back to? If under this kind of process we will likely hide the bad and give the good, and everyone's definition of "good/cool" and "bad/lame" is different. The point is we want to put forth someone that we feel is strong enough to handle how we are then viewed as. So what did this person in a similar situation say who he was?
He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
(John 1:22-23)
"A voice crying out" is not exactly a reputable image in our eyes. It sounds weak and pathetic, needy and desperate. It does NOT sound strong, confident or cool. It's more weird and odd to be known as that person who cries out loud in the wilderness. It's not a reputation most are trying to have, but it's the response John gave to all those inquisitive people. This is not the kind of response that's thinking "how can I look good?" Or "what's the coolest thing I could say?" This isn't even the opposite of that of him thinking "I'm gonna say I'm the most broken guy" or "how could I sound the most humiliated?" John's response to everyone asking him "who are you? What can you tell us about yourself?" is actually quite obscure. It's not super awesome, but it's not super humiliating either. It has nothing to do with his reputation or image.
He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord
It might be perceived by others as a reputation or image (being a weepy whiner or desperate and crazy guy crying out loud all the time), but to John it has nothing to do with looking this way or that. It's neither so lofty or so debased. It's obscure....he's just a voice. He's not thinking about himself, but all his emphasis is on his calling: "crying out in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord". That is his purpose and that is his identity. To be a voice that prepares the world for the coming of Jesus.
I was thinking about this, and it's like...what about John? It's a little sad to think he's just an obscure voice, but is it sad? It's sad in the context of our reputation to others, but if you think about it, it's actually the greatest calling of all because he announced the Son of God Almighty coming into the world! I'm sure at the time it was sad and pathetic to them, whereas years after his death it's now reputed as noble and honorable to our eyes. This guy prepared the way for Jesus our Savior! What a cool guy! What an awesome person! (Although John gets none of this reputation since he's no longer living in the flesh with us.). But the point is, just like John we have a calling, and we can't expect to walk into our calling if we continue to place our identity in the hands of those that demand to know "who are you? And what can you tell us about yourself so that we can tell everyone else?"
Taking it back to your own situation, imagine you told the people asking you that you were just walking into the calling you felt was placed in your life (whatever that may be), and that you were doing what you were doing because God had so set you free to do so. What if they found your calling unacceptable? What would it feel like to hear them question you as if you were crazy? How much influence to their questions have over you? Would you shift in confidence at your calling? Would you start to question your calling? What did John do when he was questioned about his calling?
“So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet? ”
John 1:25
Now if this were me, oh man. I'd be thinking almost immediately, you're right! Who the heck do I think I am! Ahhh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. I'm wrong. I'm bad. I'm rotten. But all this would be inwardly happening, while on the outside I'd probably be protecting myself against their darts by saying something witty or self-confident. I'd try to match their inquiry and criticism with equal and zestier proof of my legit-ness. I'd pull out my credentials, my successes, my experiences, and my unhurtable attitude. These suckers won't get the satisfaction of seeing the real me! They won't accept me then I won't accept them! I'll beat them at their own game! Or on the other end, depending on who was asking me, I'd fall apart and apologize and let go of what I thought was my calling. I'd slip into confusion and self doubt, self-loathing, and insecurities. Either way, I'd let go of my calling for the sake of preserving something else. The first doubt in my mind about my calling is all it takes to let it go, to not fully and faithfully believe in its inherent truth. To doubt is to turn away. So what about John? What did he say, and what might that show about what he was maybe thinking?
“I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know Him. He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”
Again, this sounds so far from anyone thinking about his own reputation. There is no focus or hint of reaction in his words that is about himself, except when he again states that his job is obscure "I baptize with water". But all his mind and words are directed toward the One who's sandal strap he is not worthy to untie. He tells them plainly that they don't know Him, but He's really great, so great that he can't even untie His sandal strap, because that would mean getting near to His greatness! He's not belittling himself but he's merely stating how great the One who is coming is. There's a difference between humiliating yourself to appear lowly and making someone else the attention and focus of such awesomeness that who you say you are is almost left behind in obscurity again. Nobody really sees or hears about John, everyone is mostly thinking "who is this One that John is talking about?"
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’
I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.””
John 1:26-27, 29-31
John finally reveals Jesus to everyone, and the remarkable thing is how he says "I didn't know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed"
John had told them that asked him earlier that they didn't know Jesus. And then he places himself with them, by saying I didn't know Him either. In other words, you and me, we are in the same category! We didn't know Jesus!
This isn't the kind of thing you'd say if it was coming from a point of wanting to prove yourself. John can't be thinking, "it's me versus you suckas!" Or "Do you see! I was right and you were wrong!" Otherwise he wouldn't have placed himself with those that questioned him. He mentions that he told them about this One, but he also says that he didn't know Him either, but that he was walking in his calling so that one day this One might be revealed. John is all about Jesus. So you have to wonder how and why he was able to be so self-forgetful.
I think from this story it reveals that he could do this because he walked in his calling faithfully. He had a call to be a voice that cried out for people to know that Jesus was coming. The simple truth that follows this example is that Jesus has come, and not only did he come and ascend back into heaven, but he came and gave each one of us a calling as well. It's not some secret thing or something we have to find somewhere or ask for. He already gave it to us.
“For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth; when He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He was suffering, He did not threaten but entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; you have been healed by His wounds. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:21-25
Jesus and John walked faithfully in their calling so that another MIGHT gain glory. John for Jesus, and Jesus for us! So we, too, are called so that God would be glorified, because that is our calling. We walk into our calling by first receiving what Jesus walked in His calling to give us. Salvation, forgiveness, grace and truth. We must receive that from Him in order to walk into our calling faithfully and undeterred. To walk fully in our calling as God's freed children, free from the law of sin! Free from guilt and condemnation, because those kinds of thoughts bring us to doubt and turn away from our calling. So we are free, and we must live as free based on what Jesus walked in his own calling to give us: freedom.
John had a calling,
Jesus even had a calling,
And you have a calling.
In other words, these callings are also synonymous with the will of God. So we must be with and looking to God to be able to walk in our calling. We have Christ to look to constantly both to remind us of what He did to give us our calling and to give us our calling.
This is your identity to be in the will of God. Your inherent dignity was given by Christ having walked in His calling, which was the will of God.
“For you were called to be free, brothers;
only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.”
Galatians 5:13
Along the way we will stumble and mess up and fail time after time, but that never takes away what Christ gave you. Nothing takes away what Christ gave you, and that is the freedom you have as you are now In God's will. You're set in His love.
Knowing what goes on inside is a good indication of what will go on outside. Are you walking in your calling? Contemplating your thoughts and opening yourself in honesty before the Holy Spirit helps us to see when our bodies are not caught up with our calling. If your body messes up that doesn't mean you're no longer given what Christ, in His calling, gave you. It just means you look again to what Christ gave you, and the moment it hits you is the moment you are walking in your calling both bodily and spiritually. That is your identity, to be in Him at all times.
Your body will sin and it will cause all kinds of corruptions to happen, because life outside of Christ leads to miserable death. But life in Him leads to freedom and life. You are not just who you are by yourself, but you are who you are because it was given to you. The Creator, our God, gave you a new you, a perfect you, and we can put on the new self in exchange for the old self. Just. Like. That. Because Jesus walked in His calling, now we can walk in ours.
Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
There is an old self and there is a new self.
Which one are you today?
The new self is your calling. It has an obscurity to it regarding your "image" or your "rightness", and an emphasis and focus on Jesus. Cling to God and revel in His will being done. :). It will be done, because He is God.
That's the conclusion of life,
Jmegrey
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