“But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the
praises of him, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9
When a
friend introduces us to a retired person, they may say, “He was the principal
at the high school.” Or, “She was judge of Superior Court Four.” That was their
job when they were active in their career. If all they “were” was their job
title, they become invisible when they retire. Are you only your job
description?
When I was a
child and student at Pasadena Grade School, my principal, Miss Miller, asked me
to come to her office after lunch and help file some papers. Wow, gray hair-in-a-bun,
ankle-length dark dresses, pronounced underbite, strict and beloved Miss Rose
Miller asked for my help. It never occurred
to me that I should inform my teacher I wouldn’t be in class after lunch. After
all, Miss Miller was the Grand Poobah of everyone and everything.
When I
returned to class, brown-flat-men’s-shoes-Mrs. Haas waited at the classroom
door with her arms folded and a stern expression. She asked, “Where have you
been? Who do you think you are?”
I knew where
I had been, but I was flabbergasted with the second question. I had no idea who
I was. Humiliated, I took my seat in the classroom and vowed to myself, if asked
again, I would know the answer. I would be able to say, “I am—“
Over time,
my answer to the identity question expanded. I didn’t think I was-; I knew
myself to be, “a child of the living God, a disciple of my risen savior, Jesus
Christ, a wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, friend, novelist, psychologist,
catalystic speaker.”
I will never
“used to be” any of these descriptors. As our scripture states, I am all of
these, not to boast, but to “declare the praises of him.” When I am one-hundred
four years old, I will still be a child of the living God; a joint heir with
Jesus for all God has to offer.
As you develop
your own answer to the question, “Who do you think you are?” will your identity
fade and disappear? Will you evaporated into a “has-been” or a “used to be” as
defined by your job or as the world as a whole may describe you? Or, will you
wrap your identity in WHO you are and WHOSE you are? To be an always-living-soul we must know who
we are apart from how the world knows us. Let us pray:
“Father God,
you have chosen me, calling me out of the darkness, to proclaim who and whose I
am, in order to praise your holy name. I am here to bear witness to your grace
and glory. That is the job or career of my soul, my true identity. May I come
to a clear awareness of who I am. For
today, I ask that I may see the reality of who I am and stand amazed by the
truth of the origin of my soul. Forgive me when I have been afraid to lose my
identity. Without a willingness to give up who I “think” I am, I can never
become who I “know” myself to be. I now borrow from the holiness and son-ship of
Jesus Christ and pray in his name and by his power. Amen”
Doris
Copyright
2020 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D
.
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