Who I Am

I want to renew my meditations on "who I am." Not the "who I am" that I am as the result of sin and a broken world. But the "who I am" as created and redeemed to be. This is, in fact, the real "who I am."

The wonder of this is so "out there" that John declared "we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns." He elaborates by saying, "that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is."

This is not just a statement of what we will become, it is also a statement of who we are now. Though we are not fully manifested in the wonder of what John describes, it is still our future and therefore says something about our true identity right now, today.

It is phenomenal when one reflects on it. "We will be like him."

In some ways, John is saying that we cannot fully grasp our own true identity... it would stretch our imaginations to the breaking point if we really could get our minds around it.

Because of our broken world and wayward hearts we are so often focused on the sin side of our world and of our selves. We see the failures, feel the shame, know the mistakes we've made, and understand our limitations and all-too-frail humanness. Yet the cross is far more than just, "you're forgiven," it's an invitation to step out of the old life that was created in the image of sin and to step into and embrace the new life that is created in Christ. I am no longer "a sinner saved by grace," but I am a "saint" whose ongoing mistakes are covered by a grace far deeper than I deserve.

In fact, to go back one more step, my identity is not first "a sinner saved by grace," but my initial, foundational identity is found in the amazing words of Genesis, "made in the image of God." Though I was broken by sin, and redeemed by grace, "who I am" begins with these amazing words-- the image of God.

Simply put, this means that I am really somebody... I mean, really, somebody... made with an incredible beauty, glory, wonder, awe, and more. I am actually capable of reflecting, in some magnificent way, the very wonder and transcendent glory of the Creator God. He is able, in a mysterious way, to dwell in my soul, which means that my soul has a capacity unlike any other created thing. I am made for a partnership, friendship, love relationship, unity with Deity. This is unthinkable, really, yet something that I long to more fully understand.

"Who I am" is more than a passing meditation... it is an entry point into a life lived with some of the peace and joy that the Kingdom of God has already invaded our lives with.

Comments

[nicole]

amen

[aaron]

I read this I realize that I cannot even fathom what it means to be made in his image. I have such a deep chasm between who I am and who He is, that I cannot make the leap. I have been programed to see the infinite separation between myself and God. This programming causes me to fear drawing close.
It's like admiring the sun and appretiating its beauty and warms but not wanting to get to close.
It's based on fear and feelings of not being worthy. I hope and pray that I will continue to break through this programming.

[Peter]

This blog captures my chief business over the past seven years or so... meditating on who I am in Christ. God is helping me see myself as everything I used to simply say about myself out of the Bible, thanks to a crisis as well as to some of the authors you list on this site: Nouwen, Chambers, Merton, etc.

[frank leineke]

I do not have a web site.