In Sunday-school, a few weeks ago, the class was asked if we had ever looked in the mirror, and contemplated “who am I?”. My initial thought was “of course not, I have better things to do with my time,” but managed to answer the question to the teacher’s satisfaction. I have now had time to think about the question, and now present my answer:
“I do not NEED to contemplate who I am, because I know Whose I am and I dwell on that, and HE is sufficient.” [2 Corinthians 3:5]
[Note: the question was probably not meant, by the Sunday-school curriculum, to be taken in the following way, although HOW it could expect us to come up with a different conclusion, based on the way the question is commonly asked in world we live in, is beyond me.]
Why do we feel like we need to know who we really are? Why this desire to connect with, find, and know our inner-self; this obsession with “how do I feel?” and the constant advice to “follow your heart.” Does not Jeremiah say “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV) Even Paul struggles with finding anything good within his “flesh” (human nature.... as opposed to soul or spirit [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance]) (Romans 7:18, NKJV).
So why should we delve into ourselves? There is obviously no good to be found there. Why should we try to find out what is supposedly hidden deep within our selves? Maybe there’s a reason we have to search for, really think about it. As Christians, there should be no trace of our old ‘self’ (2 Corinthians 5:17); we should be new creations, in Christ! After all, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”[Luke 9:23, ESV] (emphasis, mine)
We, as Christians need to dwell less on who we are, and more on Whose we are. The more we cogitate on Jesus, the more we will become like Him (Ephesians 5:1-2), with the help of the Holy Spirit.
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings....Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.... I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal...for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians3:10-14)
“I do not NEED to contemplate who I am, because I know Whose I am and I dwell on that, and HE is sufficient.” [2 Corinthians 3:5]
[Note: the question was probably not meant, by the Sunday-school curriculum, to be taken in the following way, although HOW it could expect us to come up with a different conclusion, based on the way the question is commonly asked in world we live in, is beyond me.]
Why do we feel like we need to know who we really are? Why this desire to connect with, find, and know our inner-self; this obsession with “how do I feel?” and the constant advice to “follow your heart.” Does not Jeremiah say “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV) Even Paul struggles with finding anything good within his “flesh” (human nature.... as opposed to soul or spirit [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance]) (Romans 7:18, NKJV).
So why should we delve into ourselves? There is obviously no good to be found there. Why should we try to find out what is supposedly hidden deep within our selves? Maybe there’s a reason we have to search for, really think about it. As Christians, there should be no trace of our old ‘self’ (2 Corinthians 5:17); we should be new creations, in Christ! After all, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”[Luke 9:23, ESV] (emphasis, mine)
We, as Christians need to dwell less on who we are, and more on Whose we are. The more we cogitate on Jesus, the more we will become like Him (Ephesians 5:1-2), with the help of the Holy Spirit.
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings....Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.... I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal...for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians3:10-14)
