Our Identity Crisis
Our Identity Crisis
Montgomery County Council (where I live) has passed a law that grants equal access and rights for all transgender. It is called the Gender Identity Bill (It should be called Gender Identity Crisis Bill). This law in its un-amended version would “let a person use facilities based on the gender identity that the person publicly and exclusively expresses or asserts”. This meant if you think you are a woman today and you are actually a man, then you can use the women’s public bathroom. You can see the identity crisis of the transgender and also of the County Council who are totally confused to even consider such an absurd law. We read this public identity crisis and think wow, but there are individual identity crises we sometimes go through. Today we will study about Jesus who did not experience any identity crisis because He knew exactly who He is and whose He is.
Luke 3: 21-22
21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
We can make the following observations on the passage in addition to many others you may have.
1. Observe who is declaring who Jesus is. It says, “A voice from heaven” declared and proclaimed who Jesus is. Who is declaring who you are?
2. Note also the presence of the Holy Spirit that “descended on him”. The fullness and presence of the Holy Spirit (which is God himself) determines who we are and what we are made of.
3. Notice also the prayer life of Jesus. “As he was praying, heaven was opened”. If you and I want to know and reconfirm who we are, we need to go into prayer so that our Father can speak to us. A lot of us are confused because we are not praying and hearing the Father’s voice through His Word.
4. Most important of all, note what was declared. “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. This is all that Jesus needed to hear and that people around him needed to know of him. Jesus never forgot nor got confused about his identity through out his 33 years of public life. You and I need only know that that the Father loves us and that nothing can separate us from his love which is Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38). As a result, we will not be seeking true love from any other place other than from our Father in heaven. In addition, our Father is well pleased with us because He is well pleased with Jesus in whom we stand and obtain our righteousness.
5. Let’s stop looking for affirmation in the wrong places. Stop trying to please people because you will never succeed in doing so. We see our own human imperfection and we project the same to others. So no one ever can please us and we will never please anyone else (not even our sweet heart/spouse). Sorry for messing up your expectation but it is the truth of the Word. I will not be able to please you but I will still do my best to do good to you. Let us also not train our children to become our trophies but to train them to please God not us. Even Jesus reminded Mary and Joseph of this by saying “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).
6. In the natural, and looking at his family line (Luke 3:23-37; Matthew 1: 2-16), Jesus could have been confused about himself. There were all kinds of people in the lineage including a prostitute (Rahab) and a murderer/adulterer (David). The point is that even our family line cannot define who we are though we need to understand our lineage and avoid sins of the fathers/mothers.
Who is defining and declaring who and whose you are? A lot of us are allowing our careers/jobs; our cars and houses define who we are. In some cases, we are allowing other people (such as celebrities, so called friends and even family members and preachers) who have no real interest in our lives define who we are. Being humans, I assure you that we do go through some momentary identify crisis. I have occasionally doubted or questioned my worth. But we must quickly catch our selves and return to our Father to define and remind us who we are. Our actions, speech and anything of substance coming from us will be determined by clear understanding of whose we are namely – son/daughter who the Father loves and in whom He is well pleased.
Whose and who are you? Do you know and if not find out today in prayer and in his Word. Remind yourself again. Why? It will sustain you during the glory days, the hard times and even in death just like it did for Jesus. Knowing who we are in Christ will help us fulfill God’s purpose on earth.
Montgomery County Council (where I live) has passed a law that grants equal access and rights for all transgender. It is called the Gender Identity Bill (It should be called Gender Identity Crisis Bill). This law in its un-amended version would “let a person use facilities based on the gender identity that the person publicly and exclusively expresses or asserts”. This meant if you think you are a woman today and you are actually a man, then you can use the women’s public bathroom. You can see the identity crisis of the transgender and also of the County Council who are totally confused to even consider such an absurd law. We read this public identity crisis and think wow, but there are individual identity crises we sometimes go through. Today we will study about Jesus who did not experience any identity crisis because He knew exactly who He is and whose He is.
Luke 3: 21-22
21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
We can make the following observations on the passage in addition to many others you may have.
1. Observe who is declaring who Jesus is. It says, “A voice from heaven” declared and proclaimed who Jesus is. Who is declaring who you are?
2. Note also the presence of the Holy Spirit that “descended on him”. The fullness and presence of the Holy Spirit (which is God himself) determines who we are and what we are made of.
3. Notice also the prayer life of Jesus. “As he was praying, heaven was opened”. If you and I want to know and reconfirm who we are, we need to go into prayer so that our Father can speak to us. A lot of us are confused because we are not praying and hearing the Father’s voice through His Word.
4. Most important of all, note what was declared. “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. This is all that Jesus needed to hear and that people around him needed to know of him. Jesus never forgot nor got confused about his identity through out his 33 years of public life. You and I need only know that that the Father loves us and that nothing can separate us from his love which is Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38). As a result, we will not be seeking true love from any other place other than from our Father in heaven. In addition, our Father is well pleased with us because He is well pleased with Jesus in whom we stand and obtain our righteousness.
5. Let’s stop looking for affirmation in the wrong places. Stop trying to please people because you will never succeed in doing so. We see our own human imperfection and we project the same to others. So no one ever can please us and we will never please anyone else (not even our sweet heart/spouse). Sorry for messing up your expectation but it is the truth of the Word. I will not be able to please you but I will still do my best to do good to you. Let us also not train our children to become our trophies but to train them to please God not us. Even Jesus reminded Mary and Joseph of this by saying “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).
6. In the natural, and looking at his family line (Luke 3:23-37; Matthew 1: 2-16), Jesus could have been confused about himself. There were all kinds of people in the lineage including a prostitute (Rahab) and a murderer/adulterer (David). The point is that even our family line cannot define who we are though we need to understand our lineage and avoid sins of the fathers/mothers.
Who is defining and declaring who and whose you are? A lot of us are allowing our careers/jobs; our cars and houses define who we are. In some cases, we are allowing other people (such as celebrities, so called friends and even family members and preachers) who have no real interest in our lives define who we are. Being humans, I assure you that we do go through some momentary identify crisis. I have occasionally doubted or questioned my worth. But we must quickly catch our selves and return to our Father to define and remind us who we are. Our actions, speech and anything of substance coming from us will be determined by clear understanding of whose we are namely – son/daughter who the Father loves and in whom He is well pleased.
Whose and who are you? Do you know and if not find out today in prayer and in his Word. Remind yourself again. Why? It will sustain you during the glory days, the hard times and even in death just like it did for Jesus. Knowing who we are in Christ will help us fulfill God’s purpose on earth.
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