I don’t say things like this all that often, but I think God’s speaking something specific and something powerful. My recent post, conversations with several people today and yesterday (including the aforementioned Rosalea), things brought up in response to other issues about God, and then something I just read in The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers all point toward this same issue: God cares about your identity, and wants it to be in him. I know we’ve all heard this a million times, but for some reason I see it being particularly emphasized right now.
“If someone knows who he is, really knows,” the cherubim [Progo in the book A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle] explains, “then he doesn’t need to hate.” Fred [Rogers] would agree: feeling as good as possible about God’s creation within us, he believed, causes us to look upon our neighbor with the same sense of wonder and worth.
Everything has been about us not allowing the ideas of others or even of ourselves to dictate who we are. This includes labels that we might use to filter and direct our actions–Christian, pentecostal, liberal, intellectual, etc. By relying fully on God and what he speaks to us to determine who we are, we can break free from our bondage to acting in the ways we or others expect us to. Kelli, in my small group, made this point: Maybe the reason we have so much trouble fully comprehending Sweat kids healing left and right is because our self-imposed labels of rational intellectuals (or whatever else) are holding us back. I think she has a good point–maybe we even just see ourselves as people who’ve never performed miracles (or been used as tools to perform miracles, whatever the proper theological attribution is), and because of that we limit ourselves from being able to become those sorts of people.
Anyway, God has a specific identity for each of us. He has planned the person he wants us to be, and has given us everything we need to become that person. It’s something to look forward to–but it takes some letting go, and some risk-taking. I hope we all can figure out that it’s worth it.
P.S. Non-First Assembly people: Sweat kids are the kids from my Gainesville church’s youth group (SWEAT) who have recently been healing people left and right through their faith-filled fervent prayers. I almost wrote “healing the crap out of people,” but I think that might be crossing the line of even my use of that expression, which is quite impressive.
good thoughts
sometimes i feel that my lack of faith, and even my lack of belief, is a bigger sin than the “outward” sins – maybe it is.
but that it is also the thing that is holding me back from being the person God made me to be. i wish i could see what she looks like – maybe it would be easier to “get there”
I think that’s totally true. I wish I had more examples, but Jesus didn’t yell at people for being sinners or for being liars or cheaters or adulterers or pornographers or smokers or drinkers or cussers… but he so often said things about people’s faith. How important it was; I’m pretty sure even how not having it is the worst thing we can do, although I could be wrong on that.
well, as to your PS comment. If someone needs to be healed of constipation issues, then it stands to reason that it would be perfectly acceptable, and just down right correct, to say that they had the “crap healed out of them”.
As to the identity issue, God has also been speaking to me alot about that lately; specifically in terms of community. In community we are called to appreciate God in those around us. In so doing we will respond to that call in one of two ways…we will either #1 appreciate what God has given them and understand that what He gave them, according to His word, is in fact, a gift to me. OR #2 we can covet and be jealous of others giftings and talents and callings and render ourselves useless to the body. It is vital that we embrace who God created us to be, knowing that He had a very specific purpose in creating us as He ordained. AND it is very important that we realize that, first and foremost, He created us INCOMPLETE ON PURPOSE!!! So that we would be forced to need each other and Him, in hopes that through that need, we would learn love.
OK, I’m done now. But God has been jackin me up with that stuff lately. He just won’t leave me alone about it! So now that I talked your ear off, I will leave you alone! Have fun at your wedding adventure!!!!
“With God’s help I will be me.”
Man, I’ve been trying do just that too for sometime now. It does take some laying down..it does take loosing your life to actually find it. Even reading that line about the labels we accept about ourselves made me think about what I believe about myself. Labels limit, its true.
Healing the crap out of people just sounds really funny. I’m still laughing about it.
& Matt, you’re a really good writer.