If you were asked, “Who are you?” how would you describe yourself? Not what are you hobbies or what you like doing, but who are you on the inside? What determines who you are? Is it your skills, your job, your income, your title, your authority, your influence, your relationships, your security, where you were born, where you live now, what you look like on the outside, how you grew up?
Or, is who you are based on what other people say about you. How they view you. What they think about you. Their approval of you. Your flaws they point out to you. Their condemnation of you. How they love you, or don’t love you. How they approve of you. If they reject you. How they treat you. If your view of who you are is based on the way you are treated by other people then please know you are worth far more than that. Your worth isn’t determined by any human being, but by the One who created you and gave you life. I want to tell you who HE says you are. This is what the LORD you creator says about you:
Long before you ever took a breath, long before you were ever formed in your mother’s womb, I already knew you. You were no accident, I gave you that heartbeat. You were created by me, in my own image. (Jer 1:5, Gen1:27) I know everything about you. I know the number of hairs on your head, when you rise and sit down. I know everything you are thinking all the time. Even before a word is on your tongue I already know it. You cannot flee from my presence. (Psa139) When you were born, where you live, I determined all that. It was not by accident or of your choosing. (Act17:26) I have a purpose for your life. (Psa138:8)
But first, you must understand this truth. I created this earth and the first humans perfectly. But they chose to disobey my command which brought sin into the world and into their hearts. This sin broke the entire creation. Everything from that point on was broken by sin. This includes you, and every person born after the first two. No human is exempt from this brokenness. This means that every part of your life, every relationship, everything around you is broken by sin. That is what’s wrong with the world you are living in today. To make matters worse, your sin has separated you from me. You cannot know me, be close to me, have fellowship with me, or experience true joy, peace or fulfillment as long as you are stained by this sin. You will never find complete satisfaction in your life apart from me. You will continuously be disappointed, hurt and forever searching for that missing piece of completion in your life. To make matters worse, since I am Holy and just, I must punish all sin. The ultimate punishment for your sin is eternal death apart from me. (Gen1:31, Gen3:17, Rom3:23, Rom6:23, Eph 2:1-3)
This is all terrible news……But wait…….there is GOOD news. There is GREAT news. I have a rescue plan for you. None of this is what I wanted for you. My desire is not separation from you, but for you and all people to have a relationship with me. (2Pe3:9) You see, I love you. I LOVE YOU. And we are not talking about the kind of love you understand. My love is much deeper and greater than you can imagine. Because I love you so much I stepped off my throne in heaven and came down to this dirty earth in the form of a man. I allowed evil men to ridicule, torture, beat me and brutally hang me on a cross to die. Jesus, the Son of God, was the rescue plan for your sin. The punishment, the penalty, the debt you owe for you sin has already been paid for. My Son Jesus willingly went to the cross and took the punishment for your sin. That wasn’t an accident. When Jesus died on the cross that day the full wrath of God for the punishment of all sin, past, present, future, was all poured out Him. It wasn’t the nails in his hands that were painful, it was the wrath of God poured out on Him. Jesus has already paid the debt for the sin of all mankind. Three days later Jesus defeated death and rose from the dead, proving His identity and is once again seated on the throne back in Heaven. Because of that you can now be free. Your future can now be secure in heaven when you accept what Jesus has done in your place. All you have to do is make the choice to turn from your way of living and put your faith and trust in what Jesus has done in your place. (Rom5:8, 2Cor5:21, 1Cor15:3-4, Eph2:4-10, Rom10:9, Rom10:13)
Once you accept my rescue plan and choose Jesus as your new King and Savior something amazing happens to you. I give you a new heart and a brand new identity. I take the broken, rejected, burned out, flawed version of you and I begin the process of changing you to be more like Me. You are no longer that old person you use to be. Your spirit is reborn and you become a child of God. You aren’t separated from Me anymore. You now have a relationship with the one who made you. And I’m going to slowly but surely start removing brokenness from your life. Let me tell you who you are once you know me.
You are accepted in Christ. You are my child, my friend and a member of my family in heaven. This is a loving family without brokenness that has no end. You have been justified and one with Me in spirit. You have been bought back, you are redeemed and forgiven of all sin. You have direct access to my throne of grace through Jesus. You have complete security in your future. You are free from condemnation, assured that everything in your life is working for good in all circumstance. You cannot be separated from my love. Now that you are a citizen in Heaven there is no fear of death anymore. In me, you are significant. You are chosen to bear fruit in your heart. You don’t have to worry about having good behavior or acting ‘good’. When I bear fruit in your heart it comes out naturally. You live differently because of the change I make in you, not because of your will power. You are now my workmanship and I will complete what I have started in you. I now live in your heart and you will never be alone. One day, you will see me face to face and I will lovingly welcome you into your new home.
(Joh1:12, Joh15:15, Rom5:1, 1Co6:17-20, 1Cor12:27, Eph1:3-8, Col1:13-14, Col2:9-10, Heb4:14-16, Rom8:1-2, Rom8:28-39, 2Cor1;21-22, Col3:1-4, Phi1:6, Phi3:20, 2Tim1:7, 1Joh5:18, John15:16, 1Cor3:16, Eph2:6-10)
Is some of this difficult to understand? It’s because I am bigger and much greater than the human mind can understand. But you don’t have to try and figure it all out. You just have to come to me in faith and repentence and I’ll save you. (“For all who call on the name of the LORD will be saved” – Rom10:13) That means everyone. No person is excluded. I proved that I love you when I sent my Son Jesus Christ to die in your place. (John 3:16)
All you have to do is be willing to turn from your way of living and call on the name of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Then you can leave all of your brokenness behind you at the cross. Come and join the Family of God where you are loved, accepted, forgiven, fulfilled, united, chosen, redeemed, alive, secure, significant, worthy, fearless, shameless, joyful, at rest, peaceful, and complete.