Have you ever struggled with knowing who you are?
We live in a world where people struggle with identity. Some of which is caused by broken families and troubled childhoods. Some of which is caused by careless friends and negative people in our lives. But I believe that who we are is determined by “whose” we are. Where did I come from and who do I belong to? The answers to these questions shape our identity.
Psalm 139:13-14 says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Every person is a unique, special creation of God. Not only that, but when we call on Jesus as our Savior, we become children of God. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” We are born anew into God’s family, and we can find our true identity in belonging to Him. We know where we came from and to whom we belong. We are precious children of God.
Recently, I was asked to write a letter (along with others) to a young lady who was struggling. She had recently returned home after her prodigal wonderings and was no doubt struggling with whether God still loved and accepted her. Here is part of what I wrote.
I just want to know how much we love you and believe in you. You are a precious, beautiful, treasured child of God.
You are not alone. Everyone has struggles, and I mean everyone. No one has it all together. The important thing is that we admit it and confess it, and when we do, God is faithful to forgive us and then we move forward. Everyone who is supporting you, is living daily in the grace God gives us, because we all have struggles. Life can be a mess sometime, and we might think that God would hold that against us, but He doesn’t. The God who knows us completely still loves us and longs to wrap His arms around us that we might feel how precious and completely loved that we truly are.
You are loved by your family; but God loves you even more, more deeply and truly then family and friends ever could. When you don’t feel the love of God, you might want to repeat these words.
“I am a child of God. I am precious in His sight. I am forgiven. My debt has been paid. I am a child of God. I have been redeemed. Satan has no claim to me. Sin has no hold on me. I have freedom in Jesus, I am free in Jesus Christ. I am a child of God. The past is forgiven. The past is forgotten. I have a new future. I have a new life. The old is gone, the new has come. I am a precious beautiful child of God. I am treasured by God, my father. He delights in me and finds joy in my company. I feel His love around me. I know that He works all things for my good, so I trust His leading in my life. I am a child of God, precious and beautiful in His sight, and because of that, I know everything is going to be okay.”
Those are words that all of us need to hear from time to time. We need to remember who we are and to whom we belong. Recently we learned a worship song called “My Father’s House”. One of the lines in the song says, “Failure won’t define me, ‘cause that’s what my Father does.”
God is the only one who defines us, who gives us our identity, not the world, not our friends, not the naysayers in our life. Only our Heavenly Father, our creator, can tell us who we truly are.
Let’s pray, Heavenly Father, I am your child, I belong to you and that’s all I really need to know. Thank you for loving me and finding joy in me even when I struggle. I love you and trust your leading in my life. In Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Vern