One life-long process that all of us experience, but few of us take the time to stop and consider, is our subconscious endeavor to discover and to define our identity.
Who am I?
What is my purpose?
What do I like?
What don’t I like?
Who do other people think that I am?
A lot of life decisions that we make, good, bad or indifferent, are attempts by us to try and answer these questions. We have an innate desire to know ourselves.
The truth, however, is that we were created by a Creator. He didn’t just create us accidentally or as a side thought or as a trial run to see how things go. We were very intentionally, thoughtfully, and purposefully made.
If this is true, then why did God not create us and place within us clear knowledge of who we are, what our gifts are, what our purpose is, and what we are supposed to do with our lives?
Why did He create this unbelievable earth, intentionally knit us together within our mother’s wombs, place us right where and when He wanted us to be born, and then basically say, “OK, now figure it all out!”
Paul was in Athens, one of the oldest cities on the earth; existing for thousands of years. He spoke to the people and taught:
Acts 17:24-28
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
God obviously didn’t want to create hordes of drones who just mindlessly do His bidding. He created us with free will to choose. He did this so that we might seek Him out and reach out for Him and find Him.
It’s just as exciting and fulfilling for Him as it is for us as we adventure and explore and discover who we are and why we are. It’s like a life-long gift that we unwrap in layers and it just keeps getting better and better. It’s like a life-long game of hide-and-seek or a scavenger hunt.
If we were just mindless drones forced to do God’s bidding, there would be no room for joy. There would be no discovery. A life that is fully known isn’t really a life lived.
When things just click for us and we have a revelation of something new that we are good at or something that we enjoy, it’s exciting! Trying new things, new experiences, new relationships, new places, new whatever-s is something that God loves. His love and His mercy and His grace and so much more are new every morning!
Even the bad things, the hurts and tragedies and mistakes, they bring discovery and revelation to who we are as well. They help us to place a value on the things in our lives. They help us to determine what we want in our lives and what we want to keep out of them.
It’s through these experiences that we understand why sin is bad. It’s how we understand why they are not a part of God’s plan for our lives. It helps us to agree with God and to trust Him more completely.
Even God, Himself, our Creator chose to share in this experience called life. The perfect and holy God chose to subject Himself to a world and surround Himself with His creation corrupted by sin.
Can you imagine being the Creator, stepping into the very world that you created, living with the very people that you created, and have them not recognize and even reject you?
Those who have loved ones suffering from mind-altering diseases such as Alzheimer’s have an idea of how Jesus must have felt. Someone that you know very intimately with a deep relationship for years suddenly views you as a complete stranger. Saying that this is difficult to experience is an unbelievable understatement!
John 1:10-13
10 He (Jesus) was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
A choice. None of us had a choice in our own physical birth; it just happened. However, we do have a choice of whether or not we are born of God.
What makes this self-discovery process even more complicated is that all of us are born wrong. We were all born into sin. Since Adam and Eve, we are all born in the flesh with this sinful human nature.
When people are confronted by Christians about their lifestyle choices that are contradictory to God’s word, a common defense that they make is that, “I was born that way.”
Some may argue and disagree with them that God would create anyone to live in contradiction to His will and His ways. We really shouldn’t disagree with them, though. They are right.
Yes, they were born that way; born into sin. That is why Jesus explained that we all need to be born again. Born not of human will, but born of God.
John 3:1-10 (NLT)
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?
Born again. All of us are born of flesh and blood, but not all of us are born again; spiritually alive. It’s not something that can be reasoned or explained. It’s not something that someone can be argued with enough to do. It’s not something that someone can be tricked into doing.
It’s something that Holy Spirit alone can do to birth us into a new spiritual life. It happens when we intentionally choose to receive Jesus’ salvation. It’s something that happens when we choose to live our lives by faith in God.
All of us were born into sin, but we have the opportunity and the invitation to be born again. Spiritually alive for the first time!
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Born again. A new way to be human. A new way to explore this world and to discover who we were always created and purposed to be!
We are born again into a new family! Brothers and sisters in Christ! To all who are willing to receive Him, we are born of God; children of God!
It’s so awesome that we are compelled to extend that same invitation to receive His salvation to everyone! We discovered something awesome and don’t want anyone else to miss out on it!
Hebrews 12:22-24
22 You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Through this new birth, we begin to receive and understand and embrace our true identities. We begin to discover who we were created to be as we begin to see ourselves from the perspective of our Creator.
What better source could we ever go to in order to understand ourselves than to the One who created us?
We were created to be so much more than we could ever be on our own without God!
The letter that Jesus wrote to the churches through John began by saying that it was:
Revelation 1:5-6
5 from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Brothers and sisters; a family to belong in.
A kingdom; citizens of Heaven with access to the riches of Heaven.
Priests; interceding between God and others with His authority.
Servants; supernaturally gifted and empowered.
And so much more!
This new birth unlocks a whole new reality for us!
Think about this earth and everything that God created within it. Humans have dwelt on this planet for thousands of years and we are still making new discoveries!
How much more is there to explore and discover in the Heavenly realms?
1 Timothy 6:17-19
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
God wants us not only to enjoy life, but to have a full and abundant life. He wants us to be rich not with uncertain worldly things, but with things that will fill our lives with good things.
There are so many good things to discover and to fill our lives with! Why would we settle for sin; for lesser things? There is so much fun and enjoyment to have in life that doesn’t involve sin. Things that lead to life and blessings with no regrets!
This is what we were created for. This is truly living. Life is an adventure getting to know ourselves and the Lord better. Figuring out who He created us to be. He intentionally and purposefully created us and it is His joy to live life together with us revealing who we were created to be!
Jeremiah 1:4-7
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’
Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 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.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Just for context, a potsherd is a broken piece of ceramic pottery found archaeologically.
Isaiah 45:9-12
9 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’
11 “This is what the Lord says –
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 It is I who made the earth
and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
Instead of fighting with God or questioning Him or trying desperately to become something that we are not, why not instead cooperate with Him, seek after Him, and embrace who He created us to be? That will be the most enjoyable, most fulfilling, and most exciting life that we can possibly live!