Who do you think you are?

When someone asks me who I am, the first and most obvious answer is my name. If they want more, I offer what I do for a living, where I'm from, and other such things that, in my mind, compose whatever public identity I have. So many things are interesting about this harmless exchange, though:

1. I've never introduced myself with my faults. I've never said, "Hi, my name is John and I have issues with forgiving people, including myself." Are not my faults every bit as much a part of who I am as my good points?

2. Come to think of it, I don't really discuss who I am as a person at all. Oh, you can learn a little bit about how someone thinks by knowing what job they're in and a little of their history, but those clues can lead you down a totally false path and, even if you are right, don't tell you whom you're really dealing with, only small things, like having my CPA license means I'm decent with numbers.

3. The strangest thing, though, is that we don't often ask ourselves this question and answer it according to the first two points.

So, who are you? Really? What kind of person are you, deep down? What secrets are you hiding from others lest they see you for who you really are or fear you are? What good points do you have that you are lying to yourself about having for fear that admitting them would mean you'd have to risk using them? How do you feel about what you have become?

Ok, now what does God say about who you are? You can research this question and you can come up with verses that says God remembers we are dust, that all our righteous works are as filthy rags, and that we are like sheep (which is not exactly a compliment, as stupid as sheep are). We're called stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and idol chasers.

But that's not the end of the story. That's merely where we are when Christ comes into our hearts. We are called children of God, His heirs, His friends. God loves us so much He deemed it worth it to send Jesus to die for us. It's still not anything we have done or ever could do to earn it, but that's how He values us.

What right do you have then to call yourself worthless when God has demonstrated so decisively just how He feels about you? What excuse can you offer for feeling bad about yourself because you feel unloved when you could not possibly be more loved than you are by Him?

How you see yourself is not just something to bring a smile to your face or keep the tears and self-pity away. It is, in my opinion, one of the core reasons why we sin.

If we are really honest about it, we'll find two things about true self-confidence: 1. that it is independent of the opinions of others, and 2. ironically, that it seems to be a person's opinion of their ability to get others' love. No one has true self-confidence, and so our confidence will always rest, at least in part, on the opinions of others, with the more confident among us letting only those close to them help determine their worth.

But for this second point of self-confidence, not having it applies to everything and everyone, including God. And if you don't believe God loves you, you won't believe that He wants to do good things for you. If you don't believe that, then you believe that all good things you'll have in this life will come from your own efforts, and, when those methods are outside His will, you sin.

It's a cycle: if you have no confidence, you don't believe God loves you, and not believing that He loves you means you'll never have the self-image He wants you to have. It's not a self-image based on your worthiness. It's actually a self-image that's based in part on your worthlessness and in part on God's love for you despite that.

To break the cycle, you have to realize that God loves you and has made you His son or daughter. He doesn't use those terms lightly, either. He says that whatever we ask in His name, if we believe it, we'll receive it. He says that if we seek, we will find; that if we knock, it shall be opened to us; that if we ask, we'll receive.

A gym owner in Sweden just married a princess. Do you think he's going back to the gym after the honeymoon? No, he's going to the palace. Will he still be a trainer? No, he'll be groomed to be a statesman. His role has changed because his position with the royal family has changed. He has been made a duke and he will now be responsible for representing his country and helping his wife in her role. He has new privileges and new responsibilities.

How much more so for us who are children of God? We accept the responsibilities, but how often do we believe, really believe, that God "will meet all [our] needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus"? We make ourselves slaves and not heirs. We ask, but it's more like begging and not an expectation of receiving good things from Him. We might not get what we ask, but we have been given the right, no, an invitation, to go before Him and ask for what we want. Think about that: the Creator of the Universe loves you and wants what is best for you, and actually invites you to ask Him for stuff.

How do you feel about yourself now? :D