Who Are You?

This simple question can provide a vast variety of answers. If someone asked you to describe who you are, how would you respond? Generally, when asked, I would probably answer with my name, I am married with 2 boys, I live in MN, I help my husband in his line of work, and I take care of our home. When describing other people we might also mention things like....haircolor, age, gender, career, kids/no kids, married/single, ethnic background, tall/short, activities they are involved in, where they go to church, who they know, and their overall personality. While these are great for describing the overall exterior shell of a person, they really only give you a glimpse of the Who in them.

What if we answered people with information on what we perceive of ourselves in that moment? By chance it was a very productive day we could say that we are driven, task oriented, and man I am proud of my ability to get things done! Maybe the day was less than optimum, we would probably be more inclined to feel...I am a failure, I am unable to accomplish anything, I am headed no where in life, and no one cares what happens to me! What kind of response would we get? I have always found it kind of absurd that we tend to ask people, "How are you?", when greeting them, and we know that the answer is almost always going to be something along the lines of, "I am doing fine.". That answer is pretty much guaranteed whether or not the person is fine, because in general we really are not wondering how they are, but just casually greeting them. I have been tempted on occasion to answer with a very detailed, heart felt answer, just to see the reaction of the other person. Even though we do not usually answer people's question of "who are you?", with a current inventory of our feelings, it would reveal a little bit more of who we think we are.

Describing yourself in either of those ways, is in fact, a temporary description. Those things that we identify ourselves with to others, are true, but they are things that could very easily change in a moments notice. You could lose your job, experience a death, dye your hair, or change your mood. What if instead, we learned to describe ourselves in a way that is never changing? A permanent identity as a child of God. How we experience and view life would drastically change, if we really believed in our heart Who We Are. So often we let others and past experiences define who we are, and then we live according to those things. Let's make a change and look past that so called "identity", and focus on the wonderful truths of who we are as a child of God!

John 1:12 I am God's child
John 15:15 I am Christ's friend
Romans 5:1 I have been justified
1Cor. 12:27 I am a member of Christ's body
Eph. 1:1 I am a saint
Col. 2:10 I am complete in Christ
2Tim. 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind
Rom. 8:35 I cannot be separated from the love of God
1John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me
Col.1:14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins
Phil. 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven
1Cor. 3:16 I am God's temple
Eph. 2:10 I am God's workmanship
1Cor. 6:20 I have been bought with a price; I belong to God
Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

(Thanks to Neil T. Anderson's book Who I Am In Christ, for the list of scripture references)