We know who we are...sometimes. Sometimes...we want to know who we are. Then at other times we know who we should be but choose to be someone else for various reasons (the majority aren't good). Being who God has designed you to be comes with much self examination as well as examination by the Holy Spirit. In the end of all of this mankind is searching for 3 things and 3 things only. The first is love. The second is acceptance. The third is approval. These can come in any order necessary for your particular story but they will come. When they come the question becomes whether we will be able to recognize them or not. If we don't know who we are we cannot recognize them. If we know who we are but the definition is marred, we cannot recognize them. It's at the abandonment of "me" that we can begin to recognize love, acceptance and approval as offered by God. It's then that we begin to understand who and whose we are. That recognition alone brings a need inside of us to seek for more. We want more of the good stuff all the time. The world cannot hope to even come close to filling that need.
Many people, including myself, live with a mask in our back pocket. When we are in private we tend to leave the mask in the pocket. When we are in public we take out the mask and put it on. Thus we hope to be able to deflect any criticism of who we really are when no one or everyone is looking. The greater position we attain, the more people want to know what we are about. Be it for ammunition to help destroy someone or love to help someone; we want to know the intricacies of others lives. It's been said that "knowledge is power" and that "absolute power corrupts absolutely." That's the way of the world. Do good and yes you will be judged on what you did NOT do. No good deed goes unpunished. Do evil and the world doesn't even notice. You're just like "them" whoever they are. To rise above the occasion requires risk of taking off the mask and accepting the love, acceptance and approval of God despite the onslaught of attitude from the world. Yet, it's the only risk that is worth taking. Take the risk.
Being a Christian, and stating so publicly, opens you and I up to the examination of everyone. That is unless we are doing nothing for God. Being a Christian and having surrendered our lives to Christ are two different things. I have been a Christian since 10/1/1972. I have chosen many times to not surrender to the will of God. That doesn't mean I'm not a Christian. It means I am a sinner in need of the grace of God. Like most of us I am a selfish man. You would think I would be selfish and seeking after the good God has to offer me in his love, acceptance and approval. You would think... God sees me and knows me whether I have the mask on or not. He can see and does see the nature of my heart. The nature of my heart either blesses Him or saddens Him. The choice is always mine. Paul laments this in his writings stating he chooses to do that which he shouldn't and doesn't chose that which he knows he should do. Hmm...sounds like me.
If we are given to God and living the life designed and expected by Him; then it shouldn't matter whether or not what I am doing because there will not be a difference in my private versus public life. The mission of God in my life and in my world doesn't change. The love God gives me doesn't change. The acceptance of God never changes. The approval of God never changes. It's me who changes. I determine whether I am more like Christ or more like the world I live in. So it is with you if you call Jesus your Savior. Live your life, and I will live my life, like everyone is watching and waiting to see Jesus in us.
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