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Monday, March 26, 2007
Last week we started with this verse:
The thief cometh not but to kill, steal, and destroy; I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. John 10:10
Last week I left you with this verse to ponder. This familiar passage of scripture is used as a cliché in many pulpits around the world. In reexamining this text I would suggest to you that this verse is so much more than a catchy phrase that a skillful orator uses to elicit an emotional response from the congregation on Sunday morning. Within this verse are hidden the hopes and dreams of Jesus Christ for His people.
It is important for us all to understand that while life poses many challenges, there is a God who knows all, sees all and in spite of it all still has abundant life planned for His children. Jeremiah 29:11 says it this way: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
You might be thinking, “The scripture is all well and good but how do I make the scripture real in my life? How do I manifest abundant life? How can I experience this peace?” I stated in last weeks post that there are no easy answers to spiritual questions and I would be an ego driven fool to think I have all the answers. I trust that although what I have say may challenge you to think about these things differently, if we begin the process of answering these very difficult questions, the answers will hopefully reveal to us a renewed sense of self and a greater sense of purpose.
There are two ways; in general, we can look at abundant life. We can look at it from a natural perspective or we can look at from a spiritual perspective. The place where I would like to begin the heart of our discussion is Identity. Conventional wisdom would say that given this forum (“loldarian.com") I must be talking about sexual identity (straight, gay, bi-, SGL, transgender.) But since there is nothing about any human being that is “conventional”, I try not to use “conventional wisdom” when dealing with God’s most perfect creation. You! The question that we all try to answer for ourselves is Who am I?
This question is often answered with some any of the following: name, occupation, race, sexuality, etc. I would contend that the answer to this question has absolutely nothing to do with your name, occupation, race, sexuality or anything else that is limited to this earthly realm. Your name is what you are called, your occupation is what you do, your race is the color of your skin and your sexuality is…well…I think you get the point.
So answer the question for me! WHO ARE YOU? Do we begin uncovering the seemingly mysterious question of our identity from a spiritual or natural perspective? Why?
Don’t keep your thoughts to yourself. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly. We are all in this together. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Email:AlbertRLee@hotmail.com
Labels: Religion, Spirituality
4 Comments:
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March 26, 2007 11:29 PM
I posed this exact question to myself as I entered my place of work today, "Who am I and what was I made for." I am a 22 yr old heterosexual black female. I discovered this blog and enjoy reading it. So, back to the question I know that I always end up being the person that has to help other people, being family, friends, or strangers. I use to hate to help people because I felt that others were always subtracting from my energy and time. I am just starting to embrace the fact that I was made to service and advise others. Once, I began to not regard my time and make time and give my energy to others it seems as if my needs are always satified. So, I know what I was made for but the question still lingers, who am I?
-Engineering Intern-
March 27, 2007 12:19 PM
Dear anonymous,
Your comments are an encouragement to me and hopefully to others that read this. You have discovered something wonderful about yourself that is integral to understanding your identity. Without purpose, identity has little meaning. If more people understood that service to God by serving others is the highest form of ministry we can exercise in this world. You have also discovered the law of reciprocity. Galations 6:7 states: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
It's the biblical version of the popular book The Secret. It will work whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not.
Be Blessed and enjoy the journey of discovering who you are in GOD.
Albert
March 27, 2007 5:48 PM
I want to start off by saying that I thoroughly enjoy your blog Darian. Ever since I discovered it through O1LT.com as well as other fellow bloggers, specifically men, who are not afraid to "talk" about their feelings and "have each others back", it has renewed and refreshed me. The addition of Albert is so on point and needed.
Bro. Albert to answer your question about Who am I? I can speak for myself as I know that I am a child of God, an heir to the throne and His Kingdom that is wonderfully made in His image. I have known this since I was a little child. Now do not get me wrong, sometimes it was difficult maintaining my identity due to the fact that society, people, family, situations and circumstances in life tried (and continually do to this day) to define me. Whether it's family wanting me to be an engineer or just like my dad or another statistic of a good for nothing, gang-banging, won't make it the age of 21, end up in prison black man. Or my moments of self-doubt, confusion, temptation and ignorance, none of those situations defined me.
In a society where people are defining themselves through their successes, sex-scapades, materialistic items, cliques, titles, etc., no wonder their are a lot of people that are not happy. No matter the amount of natural abundance you have and the amount of importance you place on it to define you, if you are spiritually dead you will fell imcomplete. No sense of purpose, no center in your life, no foundation to keep you grounded when all of the things of the world come to tempt us. I think I have started preaching, so let me slow my role.
I said all of the above to say that if you have no connection spiritually to your Creator, Our Father, my Father God, there will always be a void in your life. No matter how much you gain here on this Earth, you can't take it with you when your gone. when you truly know that you are created in God's image, you will then find out Who You Are and why you are here.The result being an unspeakable confidence in who you are that no person or situation can destroy. It's only human nature to want to label everything and everyone to define them and put them in a box. But who does God sy that you are?
I look forward to more posts from you Bro. Albert and Darian, thanks for the info, the laughs and all that.
-kc-
PS. I blog anonymous because I did not want to go through the "hassle" of setting up an account and all of that.LOL!
March 27, 2007 11:53 PM
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