Who You Are
Who have you allowed to define you in your lifetime? Whoever has told you “who you are”, the moment you chose to agree with
them, they took hold of the reigns of your life. You have given them an open door to tell you how to think, speak and act. Romans
6: 16: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether
of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” The point that we need to understand is, when God created
us in His image (see Gen. 1:26-31), a vital part of His image is a free will. Agape Love is literally “will love”. Not only does He
choose to Love, He is Love (1 John 4:8). He chooses to allow Love to define Him. We have to make that same choice. In
Joshua 24:15, the Lord through the man Joshua stated it very clearly, “…choose you this day whom ye will serve…”
We have an example in Moses. For the first 40 years of Moses’ life, he had both the Hebrews and the Egyptians telling him who
he was. Talk about an identity crisis. No wonder he stuttered! But God had gotten through to him enough, even then, to
understand that he was God’s chosen deliverer for the Hebrews (Acts 7:25). God’s real training program for Moses didn’t begin
until he was about 80 years old (so much for the “I’m too old to do what God called me to do” or “I’m too old to change”
excuses!). God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and declared, “I Am”. Then he started to tell Moses, “You are...”, and like
too many of us, Moses argued. Thank God, He finally got it across to Moses, and look at the results he got from choosing to be
who God created him to be. By the time Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, when God told him to write Numbers 12:3,
“(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth).”, apparently Moses didn’t even
flinch! God told him who he was, he agreed, and that is who he was, and continues to be (see Mark 12:26&27).
Now most of us would think, “Wow! That sounds like a really prideful thing to say about oneself.” But, we need to understand
this for ourselves; if Moses had made that statement of himself, it would have been prideful. He didn’t. God said it. God’s Word
is Truth (John 17:17). The most humble thing any of us can do is to find out what God says about us, agree with it, then BE who
He made us to be, regardless of how we feel about ourselves. God, your Creator, is the only person who is qualified and has the
right to define you.
Let’s look at another example in Genesis 4. God said to Abel, “You are Abel.” Abel agreed with God, and said, “I am Abel.” Then
God turned to his brother and said, “Cain!” He disagreed and countered, “Cain’t!” I’m taking liberties to make you laugh, but if
you read the scripture, isn’t that exactly what happened?
It is time for us to read God’s Word like we are seeing it for the first time, with a fresh perspective. Make a quality decision that
whatever God has said about you as a Christian, that IS who you are. Go to prayer and find out specifically who He has made you
to be, and what He has created you to do. Then, take the steps to BE who He says you are. “[You] can do all things through
Christ who strengthens [you].” (Phil. 4:13)
Love In Christ,
Gregory & Linda Emler
Who have you allowed to define you in your lifetime? Whoever has told you “who you are”, the moment you chose to agree with
them, they took hold of the reigns of your life. You have given them an open door to tell you how to think, speak and act. Romans
6: 16: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether
of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” The point that we need to understand is, when God created
us in His image (see Gen. 1:26-31), a vital part of His image is a free will. Agape Love is literally “will love”. Not only does He
choose to Love, He is Love (1 John 4:8). He chooses to allow Love to define Him. We have to make that same choice. In
Joshua 24:15, the Lord through the man Joshua stated it very clearly, “…choose you this day whom ye will serve…”
We have an example in Moses. For the first 40 years of Moses’ life, he had both the Hebrews and the Egyptians telling him who
he was. Talk about an identity crisis. No wonder he stuttered! But God had gotten through to him enough, even then, to
understand that he was God’s chosen deliverer for the Hebrews (Acts 7:25). God’s real training program for Moses didn’t begin
until he was about 80 years old (so much for the “I’m too old to do what God called me to do” or “I’m too old to change”
excuses!). God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and declared, “I Am”. Then he started to tell Moses, “You are...”, and like
too many of us, Moses argued. Thank God, He finally got it across to Moses, and look at the results he got from choosing to be
who God created him to be. By the time Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, when God told him to write Numbers 12:3,
“(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth).”, apparently Moses didn’t even
flinch! God told him who he was, he agreed, and that is who he was, and continues to be (see Mark 12:26&27).
Now most of us would think, “Wow! That sounds like a really prideful thing to say about oneself.” But, we need to understand
this for ourselves; if Moses had made that statement of himself, it would have been prideful. He didn’t. God said it. God’s Word
is Truth (John 17:17). The most humble thing any of us can do is to find out what God says about us, agree with it, then BE who
He made us to be, regardless of how we feel about ourselves. God, your Creator, is the only person who is qualified and has the
right to define you.
Let’s look at another example in Genesis 4. God said to Abel, “You are Abel.” Abel agreed with God, and said, “I am Abel.” Then
God turned to his brother and said, “Cain!” He disagreed and countered, “Cain’t!” I’m taking liberties to make you laugh, but if
you read the scripture, isn’t that exactly what happened?
It is time for us to read God’s Word like we are seeing it for the first time, with a fresh perspective. Make a quality decision that
whatever God has said about you as a Christian, that IS who you are. Go to prayer and find out specifically who He has made you
to be, and what He has created you to do. Then, take the steps to BE who He says you are. “[You] can do all things through
Christ who strengthens [you].” (Phil. 4:13)
Love In Christ,
Gregory & Linda Emler
