When someone asks you are, what you do? What do you say?
Are you like me and reply, "a wife and mother, a full-time student." A description of your key roles in life, your job?
I was struck last night after reading closely the first sentence of Romans with my husband how Paul describes himself quite differently:
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus" - Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1
"Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" - 1 Corinthians 1:1
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" - 2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1 and Colossians 1:1
"Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father" - Galatians 1:1
"Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope" - 1 Timothy 1:1
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus" - 2 Timothy 1:1
"Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ" - Titus 1:1
"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus" - Philemon 1:1
His very identity is centred in God!
Paul does not centre his identity on his role in the church - his job, among his friends, or in his family, he centres it on the One who gives his life its very meaning!
So often we forget who we are in God, we focus instead on the things we have to do, the roles we must play, we is relying on us for something. We forget that He calls us His children, His friends.
"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children." - Romans 8:14-16
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." - John 15:15
You are a child of God! You are the son or daughter of the King of Kings! He who was one with God, He has called you friend!
Shouldn't that far surpass the job we hold? Shouldn't that totally eclipse all other identifiers we use in our attempts to describe just who it is we are?
When we ground our identity in Him we can base ourselves and our perceptions of ourselves in who He says we are, not who the world says we are. The son of the King has much more power in the world than a nobody peasant. The heir to the throne (you! - Romans 8:17) has more freedom to come and go than the cobbler's apprentice. Freedom and power to act out his father's wishes.
So claim your identity as He says you are. Accept the freedom that comes with it, the power He provides for our lives.
Will you accept His identity for you today? Will you ground yourself in His percception of you, not the world's?
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Pruning the deadwood (aka God is a gardener)
Our Kowhai bush was getting rather overgrown, and the cool of a summer morning, with a decent breeze, seemed like a good time to get to trimming.
First up was the sides and tops, trimming back the newer growth that was going to grow out to far into the driveway, and shaping up the rest so it was looking good and well-balanced. So of the top was hard to reach, high and far round the curve of the bush was a challenge for my not-so-long reach. This wasn't hard, just lots to it.
When that was finally done it was time for round the base. Many of the lower branches were growing scraggly, long and not woven in to the mass of the bush. One branch needed the pruning saw, sharply cutting it away right at the trunk.
As I cut away around the edges I could see into the middle of the bush. Dense and thickly tangled. The branches of this bush tangle together, looking much like thick matted hair. They weave in together, holding each other together as one large mass. However, they also hold in the deadwood. In fact, they held in a lot of deadwood. As the bush had grown, the leaves on the inner branches could no longer see the light, and the branches had died. On normal trees, the weight of the dead branch gradually weighs it down until the dry brittle branch breaks off and falls to the ground. Not so with this bush. The tangled mass held all the deadwood in and close.
We do the same. We hold on to what was once important and useful, but that has become a dead-weight, a hindrance. It becomes so tangled together that the light can no longer reach our centres, too closely do we hold on to our scars, our pains.
So I started clipping. Clip, clip, clip. I snipped at the dead branches, but when I tugged on them to pull them from the bush they didn't come. They were tangled so close that even when the branch was no longer attached to the bush it was still held close.
We can be the same. God, the gardener of our hearts and souls, comes with His heavenly pruning shears, comes to clip away the deadwood, and we hold it tight. We say, 'No! I need that!'
As I clipped and I pulled, as I snipped and I tugged, the centre became lighter, more open. Maybe, just maybe God's trying to do the same for us? Do you think? Maybe he wants to clear away the deadwood from our hearts, our souls, clearing space for Him and His Light to be at our centre.
"If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned." John 15:6
"Cut off the branches because they don't belong to the LORD." Jeremiah 5:10b
God is the gardener of our hearts. He comes to clip away the deadwood so that there is room for Him, room for new growth in His ways.
He comes to prune away small things before they can grow too big and become obstacles, and He comes to prune away the deadwood which is useful no more and that we no longer need.
Will you listen to His voice when He comes pruning? Will you allow Him to cut away the deadwood in your life so that there is room for His light at your centre?
First up was the sides and tops, trimming back the newer growth that was going to grow out to far into the driveway, and shaping up the rest so it was looking good and well-balanced. So of the top was hard to reach, high and far round the curve of the bush was a challenge for my not-so-long reach. This wasn't hard, just lots to it.
When that was finally done it was time for round the base. Many of the lower branches were growing scraggly, long and not woven in to the mass of the bush. One branch needed the pruning saw, sharply cutting it away right at the trunk.
As I cut away around the edges I could see into the middle of the bush. Dense and thickly tangled. The branches of this bush tangle together, looking much like thick matted hair. They weave in together, holding each other together as one large mass. However, they also hold in the deadwood. In fact, they held in a lot of deadwood. As the bush had grown, the leaves on the inner branches could no longer see the light, and the branches had died. On normal trees, the weight of the dead branch gradually weighs it down until the dry brittle branch breaks off and falls to the ground. Not so with this bush. The tangled mass held all the deadwood in and close.
We do the same. We hold on to what was once important and useful, but that has become a dead-weight, a hindrance. It becomes so tangled together that the light can no longer reach our centres, too closely do we hold on to our scars, our pains.
So I started clipping. Clip, clip, clip. I snipped at the dead branches, but when I tugged on them to pull them from the bush they didn't come. They were tangled so close that even when the branch was no longer attached to the bush it was still held close.
We can be the same. God, the gardener of our hearts and souls, comes with His heavenly pruning shears, comes to clip away the deadwood, and we hold it tight. We say, 'No! I need that!'
As I clipped and I pulled, as I snipped and I tugged, the centre became lighter, more open. Maybe, just maybe God's trying to do the same for us? Do you think? Maybe he wants to clear away the deadwood from our hearts, our souls, clearing space for Him and His Light to be at our centre.
"If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned." John 15:6
"Cut off the branches because they don't belong to the LORD." Jeremiah 5:10b
God is the gardener of our hearts. He comes to clip away the deadwood so that there is room for Him, room for new growth in His ways.
He comes to prune away small things before they can grow too big and become obstacles, and He comes to prune away the deadwood which is useful no more and that we no longer need.
Will you listen to His voice when He comes pruning? Will you allow Him to cut away the deadwood in your life so that there is room for His light at your centre?
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