It’s Not Mine
As I was pondering who I am in light of my Father, I come to a very quick realization that I am less in control of things than I would like to think. As a matter of fact, until I come to the realization that all I have and do is a gift given to me, I then will look at life differently. I couldn’t help thinking of a hymn called, “This World Is Not My Own”. While I may have some reservations with it, the first verse came to mind, “This world is not my home I'm just a-passin' through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore”. Even though, on one level, we know this world is temporary, we seem to live as if this world is everything. There is the priority of the world, which appeals to my sinful nature, and there is the reality of God’s word. In 1 Peter 1:8-9 we read, “Though you have not seen [Christ], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This has implications on how I live my life now and the assurance of an eternity in Heaven. I was struck by a quote I read today that said, “Your life is not your own: it belongs to God. To "be yourself" is to be and do what God wants you to be and do, knowing that God created you for a mission and knows you and your mission better than you do.” The reason God’s word tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is because until we understand that we belong to God, our hope of Heaven is just that... a hope, and not a reality. We want to call our own shots because we want to be ourselves, but as rightly stated above, we are truly ourselves when we have become the person God has designed and called us to be. We are created in the image of God, and we are most ourselves when we best reflect that. Since that image has been tarnished by sin, God alone knows what our true identity in Him is. On this side of heaven, we are most like who God created us to be when we are walking according to God’s call for us, carrying out “our mission”. Since God knows what that is and what it will take to accomplish, we are most like ourselves when we do God’s will. Father, it is when we try to find ourselves in the world that we get lost. It is only when we lose ourselves in You that we are truly found. Amen