Who I am and what I carry

We spend a lot of time wondering who we are. It is almost like there is an intentional efforts to skew our identities. And, there is. If we were to walk in who we should be this world, this life, would be dramatically different.

From childhood we try to identify who we are. We listen to those around us. Like it or not, their opinions determine who we see ourselves as being. They, others, get to determine who we see ourselves as being, at least for the first part of our lives. As we get older, we either agree or disagree with the opinions of others. In response to those opinions we either confront, agree with, or retreat from them. Then we come to self-evaluate who we are.

We get to an age of understanding and we begin to weigh the opinions of others. We begin to consider opinions based on how we feel. If we are continuously fed negative inputs, our opinion of ourselves becomes negative. An imbalance may occur. We may feel deep inside that their opinions are not accurate – however consistently and vehemently applied. We may even get to the place where we only agree with their assessment. “Life is no more than what these others have said about me” becomes the lament. Then we make life choices based on those heaped upon us opinions until we drown in them and act to fulfill them.

That is until you come across a contrary to their dogma opinion of us. We discover we can be more. We  learn there is more. Our curiosity and appetite are whetted. We pursue more. Maybe quietly at first but later more openly and confrontationally.  We may even bear the brunt of retribution for our audacity to think we are more than the opinion of others.

This happens all too much and all too regularly. Good and capable people are fettered emotionally, mentally, and socially, because they refuse to conform to the opinions of those who think they know best what is good for another. That is dictatorship and must be confronted. People who deride people do so only to control them. They do not do what they do to build up another, to help them become capable in a world that is confusing enough.

Most societies and religions do this. They want others to conform so they are easier to manage. Behave or else is the threat. You are acting above your station, education, position, lot in life is the condescension. Only one has ever built up, not tear down.

The Bible reflects on a history of Man, or mankind, humans, that is full of domination of one over another. Each time it has been about the power one wields over another; never about fellowship nor pulling another up to the better station or position; this in spite of the many number of men and women saying otherwise, some of them prophets of the God of the Bible, sent to the nations.

Even in more contemporary times, there are those who would deny someone an opportunity because they do not have the same pedigree or station or accent or skin tone or curl of hair. It amazes me at times.

The God of the Bible said we were all His children. Jesus Christ said we were to be like him; work to be one with God. God went further and called us His children. There is a problem in that though. Sin. The act of doing something that is separate from God. God is life. To be separate from God is death. And too many have already done that. Too many have died thinking they were okay, or thinking their way or their god would deliver them or give them another opportunity to do things better next time. It doesn’t work that way.

Jesus, from the Bible, said he was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father except through him. He did not say this to make a religious statement or theoretical statement. He said that because it was and is true. Only through Jesus can we get to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. Jesus is the only way to get to the God who is life. That relationship of life with the God of the Bible is the goal and sole purpose of Jesus doing what he did before, during, and after the cross on Calvary.

Now if you walk with the God of the Bible, or have just started walking with Him, you will change your opinion of yourself to His opinion of you. Who I am and what I carry is dependent on Him. He is life, and He has something for each of us. He has gifts and callings as we learn to walk with Him and in life with Him. If God calls you blessed (which means to be increased in gifts and favor) then you have to change your opinion to match God’s opinion of you in order to receive the blessing. If you do not believe it, you cannot receive it. And, you won’t have life, a full life. There will always be something missing: God.

Read your Bible. Find out who God said you were/are. Find out what God said you could have. Find out what God said you could do. Find out what inheritance or portion is yours simply for the asking. Talk to Jesus about life in him and life available through the God of the Bible. Then walk in it with Him.

Who you are and what you carry can change the world; or it can change the world of someone around you. You do not have to fly to a foreign country to make a giant impact in someone’s life. You just have to be willing to walk in the life you have, walk with God in that life, and touch those around you that you can. We – those who are in Christ Jesus – can heal the brokenhearted, heal the sick, set captives free, and proclaim the Lord’s favor over others’ lives. Life, liberty, and happiness are yours to give away, if you are in Christ.

Who you are and what you carry becomes the gift to those around you. Jesus was on the way to someone’s house to pray for that person’s daughter when someone touched Jesus out of faith that who Jesus was and what he carried was enough to heal her when she touched the hem of his cloths. It was, because Jesus was who she thought him to be and carried what she thought him to carry.

That same gift of life is available to each and everyone of us if we will accept it. Yes, we can do everything that Jesus did, and more, because of what he did. Accept the cross as the price paid for your life. Accept it and walk in it. From there turn your heart toward God and allow Him to walk with you in your life – just as your are, where you, begin.

You can and will do amazing things, because the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, and the Bible now walks with you. Read the Bible. What God said you can do, you can do. What God said you can have, you can have. Who God said you are, you are.

Others have said their opinions of your life, who you are, who you can be, what you can have. Listen to the God of the Bible. If what they say does not line up with what God says, listen to the God of the Bible. And learn to be who you are and carry what He says you can carry.

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If you do not know God or Jesus it is okay. You can begin right now, right where you are. Pray this simple pray from your heart:
God, I want to know You. I want to be who You say I am. Jesus, I accept the cross as my price paid to have life with you. Be with me today. Change my life and let me walk with you. Amen. It is finished.

If you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart of who you are, then be happy. God is with you and in your life right now, as of this very moment. He will walk with you and those opinions of others will disappear as He leads you in knowing who you are to Him and who you are in Him. Amen.