“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalms 139:14 ESV When people are hurting, they need simple truth, not simplistic truth. It’s not enough to tell someone to pray, read the Bible, or go to church. You have to help them know how to make changes in their lives. And we can’t make changes in our lives until we understand our identity. You cannot become all that God created you to be until you embrace your identity — the unmistakably unique you that God intentionally made for a purpose. You are wonderfully complex, as Psalm 139:14 tells us. To fulfill God’s purpose for you, you have to look at every dimension of your life and understand five factors that influence your identity. Then you have to make the most of what you’re given. We have all been given different parents, pains, problems, and potential, but we will all be held accountable one day for what we did with them. The first factor that makes you who you are is your chemistry. This includes your DNA, your genes, your hormones, and your chemical makeup. Some of us were born with a low tolerance for pain; others have an extremely high tolerance for pain. Some of us have low energy levels; others bounce off the walls. Some of us have trick knees, weak eyesight, or brittle bones. Some of us have different brain chemistry, such as low levels of serotonin that can cause depression. We’re all imperfect, and no flaw is sinful or shameful — it’s the way God wired you! You can buy a pair of distressed jeans that has a tag that reads: “These jeans have intentional flaws in order to make them unique.” Your “genes” are the same way: They have flaws that make you unique. Those flaws are part of your custom design, and God planned them for his purpose and glory. You will never be able to make a change in your life or fulfill God’s purpose for your life until you understand that you are wonderfully complex and uniquely designed for God’s glory. The question then, is this: What will you do with the hand you’re dealt?
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“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 ESV
The first of five factors that influence your identity is your chemistry. We have all been made wonderfully complex and full of flaws, and until you embrace who you are — including your flaws — you cannot make the changes in your life that will bring about true transformation. Your connections are the second factor that influences your identity. Your connections give your life purpose, meaning, and identity. If you grew up with dysfunctional relationships, then you question your purpose and struggle with identity. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus said that the most important things we should do are to love God and to love other people. Life is not about your accomplishments or acquisitions, your popularity or prestige. It’s about how well you love. There are three problems that keep us from loving fully as God intended: 1. We’re all imperfect. There are no perfect relationships because there are no perfect people. 2. Sin disconnects us. Adam and Eve had the first broken relationship and disconnected themselves from God and from each other. We’ve been excusing ourselves and accusing the people we love ever since. 3. The more disconnected we are, the more fearful we become. We crave intimacy, but we fear vulnerability. We crave acceptance, but we fear rejection. You are a product of your relationships. Study after study shows that our identity is largely determined by what we think the most important people in our lives think of us. That’s why you should make sure that Jesus is the most important person in your life, because he will love you unconditionally. We all have different connections: some healthy, some broken. It’s important to have healthy connections because they play such a large role in determining your identity. People with healthy relationships don’t have to ask, “Does my life matter?” You may not have had any say in the hand you were dealt in life. But God sent his Son as your Savior to transform your “cards” into a winning hand. No matter what connections you’ve made in life, whether good or bad, you will be held responsible for what you do with your connections today. Will you let God affect your connections? Will you trust him for your future in spite of a difficult past? Will you nurture, protect, and build relationships so that God is more fully glorified in your life? Resolve today to build healthy relationships with God’s help. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Rom 12:2 ESV
You cannot become all God created you to be until you understand the five factors that influence your identity. The first two are chemistry (how you are made) and connections (your relationships). You are a product of the way God created you and of the relationships in your life. Your identity is also influenced by two other factors: your circumstances and your consciousness. Circumstances are the things that happen to you and around you — none of which you control. You are a product of the trauma, troubles, suffering, shame, shock, pressures, and pain that have shaped your life. Perhaps even abuse has affected your identity. If you’ve ever had a series of failures or a catastrophe, it has left an indelible mark on who you are. Consciousness is how you talk to yourself. And you know what? If you talked to your friends the way you talk to yourself, you probably wouldn’t be friends anymore, because our thoughts are filled with the lies we’ve heard from other people that we’ve let simmer and fester. When we repeat other people’s thoughts in our head, they go deeper and deeper into our consciousness, and they begin to shape our identity. In Proverbs 4:23, the Bible says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (ESV). Your thoughts don’t have to be true to hurt you; you just have to believe them. If you tell yourself your marriage won’t last, then it won’t. If you’re afraid you can’t do something, then you won’t. Your thoughts run your life! Your circumstances may be out of your control, but God is in control of everything. Your thoughts shape who you are, but you can change the way you think. Your circumstances and consciousness have shaped who you are, but the way you respond to your circumstances and the thoughts you choose to believe will shape the rest of your life. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Rom 8:29 ESV
You are wonderfully complex, the Bible tells us in Psalm 139:14. To fulfill God’s purpose for you, you have to look at every dimension of your life and understand five factors that influence your identity. Four of the five are our chemistry, our connections, our circumstances, and our consciousness that affect the way we are shaped. If these factors were like the cards you’re dealt in a card game, then the fifth factor would be your wild card. Why? Because that card represents your choices, and that card affects all of your other cards. You may not be able to control the hand you were dealt, but you can use your wild card to change the way you live your life by the choices you make. The Bible says we are created in the image of God. No other animal was created in the image of God! Dogs have instinct but don’t know the difference between right and wrong. Elephants have no moral compass. But you get to choose to do right or wrong. The freedom to choose is humanity’s greatest blessing and also our greatest curse, because we make foolish choices that harm us and harm everyone around us. The wild card of choice means –
Your character is shaped by your choices. What choices will you make today that will positively affect the rest of your life? |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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