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Tag: identity

Standing Strong in Difficult Times

March 1, 2018 /

Jesus Suffering

Temptation
Testing
Struggles
Crisis
Death
Pain
Suffering
Confusion

We all face them. We all experience them. Why? We are in a world broken by sin and we have an enemy actively working to destroy us. Satan has a wonderful plan for your life. His plan is to kill you, to steal from you, and to destroy you (John 10:10). What he cannot take from you he will lie to you to get you to give it up. After all, he is a liar and he is the father of lies (John 8:44). How do you know Satan is lying? His lips are moving.

How do we stand strong in difficult times? Follow the example of Jesus. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4 Jesus demonstrates the first thing about standing strong when being tested to one’s limits: Know who you are. Prior to Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he is tempted by Satan to abandon his divine mission Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. As he is coming out of the water the heavens open and we hear a voice say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus’ knowledge of himself as God’s son, the assurance of his father’s love and pleasure provide the foundation on which Jesus stands in his times of testing. It is our foundation as well. Do you know who you are?

  • You are Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
  • You are a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him. (Romans 8:17)
  • You are God’s workmanship – His handiwork – born anew in Christ to do His work. (Ephesians 2:10)
  • You are chosen of God, holy and dearly loved. (Colossians 3:12 / 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
  • You are an enemy of the devil. (1 Peter 5:8)
  • You are a child of God (John 1:12)
  • You have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
  • You are the recipient of eternal life. (John 3:16)
  • You have been redeemed and forgiven of all your sins. The debt against you has been canceled.  (Colossians 1:13-14)

And so much more!

One of Satan’s greatest lies is to cause us to doubt the love of God and our identity as children of God during times of suffering and testing. We stand firm in these times by remembering who we are and who God is and never letting go.

Do you know who you are?

Blessings,
Stephen

Who am I?

August 25, 2015 /

Trees in a mist

Dear Friends,

I know one of the criteria for being a well-educated person is that I am supposed to like poetry. From the carefully crafted words of soliloquy I am to find transcendental peace for my soul. I don’t. Most of it, I actually find annoying and better for solving the world’s sleep deprivation epidemic. I would say that I am sorry for offending those of you who find pleasure in rhyme, but I really am not.

One poem stands out to me as different than all the others. Words written by the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer from within the confine of a Nazi concentration camp. Bonhoeffer would pen these words one month before he could be executed. They speak to the depth of the human struggle in our soul. The tension between who we convey to the world on the outside and who we see ourselves to be on the inside. These words haunt me and challenge me. They convey an authentic life that is rarely ever allowed to be seen and expose raw hope as it should be.

Who Am I?
by Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a Squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectations of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!

Defining the Church

April 21, 2015 /

Loaded Menu Board

 

In my last post, I asked the question, “What if we are not meant to be known by the roles we play and the things we do but rather by whose we are?”

I continue to process this very challenging question and its implications. My struggling has brought to wonder about the church itself. What if the importance of finding our value is whose we are rather than who we are is not only true for persons but also true for churches? Admit it. We define our churches by the things we do. The more programs we run the better. Our success as a church is defined by having more programs than anyone else in town. If we offer an ever increasing diversity of choices of things for people to do we are a success. But if our menu board of programs is not glamorous and loaded we must be a failure.

What do you think? Does the church place more emphasis on what we do rather than whose we are? What difference does it make?

 

Pastor Stephen

 

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