Looking for worth, fulfillment, and personal value by “being something” is a method by which one can guarantee a life of personal failure.
We try to “fit in” and try to “be” by projecting ourselves in the image of what we want to be. What we become is a walking, lying vanity.
Aristotle said something like this: “If you want to be something you must begin by doing what you want to be.” (paraphrased). This may work to a degree in physical endeavors in the world; for instance, one can become a house painter as the result of learning by doing, and through experience, over time, developing the skills of painting houses. He has, through his personal efforts, become a house painter by painting houses. On the other hand, thousands of people have taken up the brush with the desire of becoming “an artist”, only to discover they didn’t have the talent within themselves to be a painter of that type. Even training in the techniques of painting cannot give you “talent” or “gifting”. Training will only enhance what talent is already God-given, and there.
There are people who can multiply 10-digit numbers by 10-digit numbers in their heads faster than you and I can enter it into a calculator. Such people are very few, and uncommon, and we recognize this as a mental attribute or talent that is unique and unusual. You can aspire to such talent, but you either have the ability or you do not.
Seeing the talents in others can inspire us to endeavor to develop in that direction; However, it can also lead us astray from who we are and what we possess. If anyone has ever watched try-outs for American Idol on television, you can “hear” the ones who are “wannabes” from the ones with “true talent”. Some “singers” are reaching toward something they will never be good at…i.e., singing! And the tragic thing is, some of them “have no clue!”
We all have the need to discover who and what we are.
We need not make a comparison with others to do so.
There is a difference between a pebble, a rock, and a mountain. They may have the same attributes to a greater or lesser degree, but they all have a place and a purpose. If we look at the mountain and compare it to a round stone, the stone appears insignificant in contrast. Yet, the round stone in the hands of David was the perfect weapon to bring down Goliath, the Giant! The “purpose” made all the difference to the “significance” of that stone.
Do you see this? In the same way, our own purpose makes who we are very significant to God.
We must not try to be what we want to be. We must learn who we are and become what we were created to be.
The very fact that “God is not a respecter of persons” should indicate that in His value system there is no difference in greatness between one person and another.
We look upon things, purposes, or functions of an object or person with different attitudes. For instance, a clay bowl made by an artisan is treasured. The clay culvert made to transport sewage out of the city will not find a place of honor on one’s mantle. One is created to express an idea; the other was created to fulfill a function: to eliminate waste to ensure the health of the community. Which is more important? Well, that depends! It is important in relation to one’s perspective… one’s desire… and one’s needs.
Who and what you are is more important to you than the attributes of someone else whom you may admire or treasure.
There are philosophers who have surmised that we are the composite of all that we have experienced in our lives; that what we see, hear, and experience influences us to such an extent that it determines what we become and who we are.
I disagree! We are more than a rock experiencing the world around us. We are not created as a rock to wear down to gravel, then sand, and eventually, be dust in the wind. We are spirit and not subject to the physical wear and tear of the earth. Paul said in scripture, “Though the outward man (our flesh) perishes, the inner man is being renewed day by day.” We were not created to be molded by circumstances in our lives…we were created with a purpose! We are to have dominion over the earth, to make it fruitful, and to multiply. This bears witness that our influence and our perspectives do not come from the world, but from a source apart from the world.
Our inspiration comes from The Creator of all things…from God himself. It’s God’s plan that rather than being influenced by the world…we are the Influencers of the world!
Adam lost this ability when he separated himself from his spiritual influence, God. Satan then took advantage of this separation by becoming man’s spiritual mentor and created the world’s system in which we find ourselves today. This world’s system was created to influence man’s way of thinking down to the individual.
Because man has lost his identity, Satan gives us a false one! …the lie masked in conformity to the world! It is much easier to flow with “the system” than to stand against it. In our own power, we are quickly made to conform, or are eliminated, by the system. What it cannot control, it will try to destroy. We’ve seen this in recent years magnified!
If you go against the flow, you are persecuted and very much “pressured to conform” to The World…the name we give this world’s system. Satan, counterfeiting God’s plan, has even brought about the reality of this by those Online even holding the title of “Influencer” as they promote product, etc. It’s all about money and power for them.
On a personal level, for Christians, the answer to who we are will come from our spirit.
It is only through the spirit of man, in communion with the Spirit of God, our Maker, that our true identity can be found and expressed.
Our minds will determine which course to follow. It can be influenced by The World or by the Spirit and the Word of God. It cannot have two masters! Our minds will be led by one or by the other.
Trying to be… by being something that has influenced us …will cause us to reject what our own spirit desires to reveal. We will be at war within… and it will be a terrible misery. Our heart (spirit) tells us one thing, and our mind (receiving pressure from The World) tells us another.
It is only in the Lord’s will that we will have an agreement between the mind and the heart.
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I personally believe that Lauren Daigle’s hit song, “You Say” was so popular because the Spirit of God raised up a standard against the lies attacking the identity of God’s People! He let the public “hear” the truth! He let the public sense down deep in their souls that what God says should identify them, and not their own stinking thinking! He was giving Believers their identity in HIM! The identity that is found in what HE SAYS about them. The lyrics “hit a chord” in Believer’s hearts, because they knew they were receiving truth. Their spirit bore witness within themselves! No wonder it was a hit! God has called Lauren… and all his children… to be “God’s Influencers”! And Influence is what she did! The truth of this song alone freed thousands to “be influenced” by who God said they were… not who The World was telling them they were: not enough, falling short, weak! Full of failure! The World fed them a bunch of nonsense!
“Fighting voices” were exactly what they “had been” experiencing before the truth of this Spirit-given song came out. Take a listen if you are unfamiliar with this song. It will influence you as a believer too!
As I close, I reveal, this article, with exception of this last section, was written Way Before Lauren’s song came out and made the charts. By this, we all can recognize that, “Believers, our knowing our TRUE IDENTITY” is important to God! “
Let the Spirit and the Word define you. Begin to close your ears to “the messages” you are hearing through media and from those swayed already by our godless society, entrenched in The World’s system! Start turning off that media that has engulfed your life with Satanic and anti-Christ influences.
Find out who your Creator has created you to be! Find out who you are In Christ!
Psalm 1 tells us,
“Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
As each Believer allows the Lord to establish their “true identity”, I believe our lights will shine forth to the unsaved, who will then “want to” have Christ too! We will shine out as lights in a darkened world. Powers of darkness can no longer “tell us” who we are! Many around us will desire to be free of demonic influence too!
WE BELONG TO GOD! He is Our Creator! He knows who He has made each of us to be, and only He has the right to establish our identity! Amen!!
Embrace all that He shows to you about yourself… the strengths, the weaknesses, the interests, the lack of interests, the talents, the spiritual gifts, the skill sets, what makes you feel fulfilled, what puts a smile on your face, and makes you “come out of your shell”, etc.
Search the Scriptures to discover what HE SAYS about you. It will be exciting to have your true identity established by God! Psalm 139 is a good place to begin! Let the Spirit talk to you!
So, to close, let me reiterate:
You have a True Identity… And if not already known, it is to be discovered!
That identity is discovered from relationship with Your Creator God through Christ Jesus! He created you “with a purpose” – “with a significance” – with “love and forethought”! He knows “who” you are, for He created you “the way you are”. Embrace even your weakness and limitations. God uses us as we are. We are told in 2 Cor 4:7,But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The Lord loves you so much, He is having you read this, so you can be spoken to by His Spirit. It’s never too late, as long as you have breath, to “come into that which he has gotten hold of you for”. Amen?!
I leave you with this verse to ponder until it brings you peace:
Philippians 3:12 NKJV
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
He is laying hold of you today.
Will you lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of you?
Your True Identity?