SELF IDENTIFICATION
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Whenever we use terms like self identification people tend to raise an eyebrow at the thought of perhaps not being able to know who they really are. I found this very true about myself when I was faced with my time in the service, and the general fear raised of having to go to the war in Vietnam. and all of the uncertainties that surrounded finding out truths about myself that I never before knew.
For most of us this centered around facing the fear of death and our own unknown future. For a great many of us there was even more to deal with in the end than we could imagine because once the Genie from the bottle as they say it is impossible to ever come back to normal from the experience. One of the biggest journeys that we will ever undertake is in trying to know ourselves well enough to know what we will do in a given situation. For a long time in my life I feared because I felt a lack of courage in taking action, and then after I had been trained in the service I became afraid of what I would do if I was put in any given situation.
Within my Christian experience I started by being timid about my faith in Christ; by being afraid of what others my see me as, and now there is no doubt about my belief or ability to speak up, but in how far I should take what God will have me say. We spoke last time about taking a good long look at ourselves in the mirror of life to see who stares back at us. The longer we allow ourselves to look the more detail we will see. Some times we may be able to be pleased if we just glance at the image we see, but it is rare that we will be able to look for a long time without starting to see blimishes and things that are not as perfect as we first may have thought.
When ever we take the time to look closely at that reflection it is hard...if not impossible for us to not also see the flaws that are there. We know that there must be a change within us if we are to fit into that perfect Kingdom. I can remember thinking as a small boy " what has to happen for all of the church people to get along and be of the same mind and heart?" If we are going to be as one when do we start? Do our attitudes change toward one another as soon as we die and we become transformed; or is this the place and the time when we are to work on that transformation? We certainly are not going to attain any kind of physical perfection for very long so it must be a spiritual perfection that Jesus is talking about, and from my experience that kind of thing does not automatically happen in the twinkling of an eye.
Who is it that stares back at you in a mirror today? Can you trust that person when the chips are down? Each time that we make a visit to that mirror are we seeing changes being made, or are we we still not seeing the needs that are there for growth and change? What are we allowing God to do within us to make those changes that we know are so badly needed for our spirits to fit into God's Kingdom. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that is one of our main jobs here in this life; to show God that we mean business about our life with Him and love for one another. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Whenever we use terms like self identification people tend to raise an eyebrow at the thought of perhaps not being able to know who they really are. I found this very true about myself when I was faced with my time in the service, and the general fear raised of having to go to the war in Vietnam. and all of the uncertainties that surrounded finding out truths about myself that I never before knew.
For most of us this centered around facing the fear of death and our own unknown future. For a great many of us there was even more to deal with in the end than we could imagine because once the Genie from the bottle as they say it is impossible to ever come back to normal from the experience. One of the biggest journeys that we will ever undertake is in trying to know ourselves well enough to know what we will do in a given situation. For a long time in my life I feared because I felt a lack of courage in taking action, and then after I had been trained in the service I became afraid of what I would do if I was put in any given situation.
Within my Christian experience I started by being timid about my faith in Christ; by being afraid of what others my see me as, and now there is no doubt about my belief or ability to speak up, but in how far I should take what God will have me say. We spoke last time about taking a good long look at ourselves in the mirror of life to see who stares back at us. The longer we allow ourselves to look the more detail we will see. Some times we may be able to be pleased if we just glance at the image we see, but it is rare that we will be able to look for a long time without starting to see blimishes and things that are not as perfect as we first may have thought.
When ever we take the time to look closely at that reflection it is hard...if not impossible for us to not also see the flaws that are there. We know that there must be a change within us if we are to fit into that perfect Kingdom. I can remember thinking as a small boy " what has to happen for all of the church people to get along and be of the same mind and heart?" If we are going to be as one when do we start? Do our attitudes change toward one another as soon as we die and we become transformed; or is this the place and the time when we are to work on that transformation? We certainly are not going to attain any kind of physical perfection for very long so it must be a spiritual perfection that Jesus is talking about, and from my experience that kind of thing does not automatically happen in the twinkling of an eye.
Who is it that stares back at you in a mirror today? Can you trust that person when the chips are down? Each time that we make a visit to that mirror are we seeing changes being made, or are we we still not seeing the needs that are there for growth and change? What are we allowing God to do within us to make those changes that we know are so badly needed for our spirits to fit into God's Kingdom. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that is one of our main jobs here in this life; to show God that we mean business about our life with Him and love for one another. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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