Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are?
No, this isn’t meant to be offensive. It actually is a great play on words. What if this question were a normal way of engaging each other? Not in a derogatory way, rather in a way that reflects a genuine desire to get to know the individual?
Who are you? … Really. Imagine the amazing conversations we’d have if this was how we engaged! Instead of “how are you?” or “what do you do?”, what if we were to ask “who are you?” Sadly, we are so accustomed to defaulting to the temporal things, we miss out on getting to know each other at a deeper level? It feels safer to remain at the superficial level of relationships.
But, other than safety, the bigger challenge is that most of us don’t know who we are. At least, not really. So, how would you answer that question? Who are you?
Henri Nouwen shares three things that tend to define our identity, and therefore, our response:
I am what people think of me
I am what I have
I am what I do
Others define themselves by their mistakes. Some as heroes and others as victims. Many by their past and a few by their envisioned future.
But If none of this is who I am, what is?
At the foundational, and most important, level you are a creation of God. You are wonderfully made and deeply loved. In fact, God cannot love you anymore, regardless of how much stuff you “do” for God. Do you believe that? Do you “identify” with it? Or, like most of us, do you still struggle as a “human-doing” vs. allowing yourself to be a “human-being.” Enough, in who you are.
But, beyond that, who are you? Really.
REFLECTION
To what extent do I allow these three things to determine my identity? As Christ followers, we say we are fully known, fully formed according to God’s love and purposes, and He cannot love us any more. Or do we say it, sing it in our worship songs, and ….
Who I am, my wiring, my experiences, my unique me is a great starting place from which to allow God to use me in what I do.
