Becoming Your God Given Identity

Scripture:

            “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”

—Ephesians 1:1a

Observation:

            Paul, an apostle of Christ by the will of God is probably the only way Paul could describe his life.  The best way to describe the beginning of Paul’s conversion to Christ would be to call it a hijacking.  Paul was a man who pursued what he perceived as his calling vigorously.  Paul was on his way to Damascus to lay down the law on the followers of Christ when Jesus accosted him.  Jesus through him to the ground and basically told Paul what the deal was.  After that Paul became a committed follower of Jesus.  Paul became an apostle Jesus literally by the will or force of hand of God.  God did not force Paul to become an apostle but God did stack the deck against Paul pursuing anything else.  But at the end of the day it is a sense of belonging in Paul’s tone when he writes “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”  It is not a begrudging fact but rather a sense of identity.  Paul’s true identity was unleashed that day on the road to Damascus.  Up until that point Paul was only living out what he thought he should do, not what God had created him to be.  The difference is Paul’s identity before Christ was found in what he did, after Christ it was found in who he is.  It is a sense that when God is in the picture we can become nothing else besides what God has created us to be.  True we may be busy doing all sorts of things, even things that are detrimental to our well being, prior to God grabbing us and showing us the bigger picture of who we really are.

Application:

            In my life I have done a lot of things.  Some good things and some bad, but nonetheless I have done a lot.  It is funny that when I was six a pastor friend of my mom prophesied that I was going to be a pastor.  I vigorously ran away from the calling on my life to be a pastor.  I got involved in drugs and drinking, gangs, I started a record company that produced foul music, I occasionally helped at church, etc.  But like Paul there came a point in my life where Jesus just said enough is enough and accosted me.  Jesus took my life and began to move it in the direction that I was supposed to be moving.   Jesus never forced me to follow him, but he certainly did stack the cards against me doing anything else.  Today I am a pastor by the will of God.  I can be nothing else.  I am not defined by what I have done, by what I do, or by what I will do.  I am solely defined or identified by what God has made me.  I look at many people and praise God when I here testimonies here there testimonies.  But I praise God the most when I here the testimonies of people who all there life have had an awareness of who God had created them to be and they could be nothing else.  But all of us who have tried to do a lot things by our own volition, need only listen to the voice of God wooing us to become who he created us to be.  And at that point we can become nothing else.  We are only identified by the will of God and not by what we do.  Who has God created you to be?

Prayer:

            Lord, thank you for grabbing a hold of me.  Lord, thank you for creating me for your glory.  Lord, I pray for all your children who are resisting the call to become who you created them to be.  I pray that the enemy will loose every foothold he has laid claim to and your children will return to you and embrace their God given identity.  In Jesus name I pray Amen…