Who are you?

It's been a while since I last posted anything, and I felt the urge to share some thoughts. I suppose it's not really anything new, but I feel that it is important enough to reiterate. In today's world there is a lot of noise. We have information coming at us from every angle: the billboard, the radio, the internet, the television, email, snail mail, etc. With so much being thrown at us from every angle, we can easily have our ideas and thoughts clouded by an overwhelming overload of "stuff." It may seem trivial for me to start out like that, but it is because of a realization of the overload that I am even sitting here thinking on these things.

As a minister, I read a lot of books on doing ministry. There are so many lessons to learn about sharing the grace, truth, and love of Christ with people in order to help them move from where they are to a more Christ-like state. It becomes so easy to lose sight of foundational principles as you work so hard to learn how to do ministry better. Unfortunately I was recently reminded of a crucial core principle of ministry. Buckle your seat-belt because this is going to blow you away: What we do flows out of who we are. I know, I am a genius. This concept is so complex that I know you are re-reading it over and over trying to grasp exactly what is being said. Nonetheless, as concise as this statement may be, it is so easy to lose in the grind of trying to do better.

I think this carries over into the realm of the Christian life. We tend to one of two extremes: either we want people to tell us what to do or we really don't want anyone to tell us what to do. The questions that gets neglected either way is "Why?" Why should I do this or that? It's because of who I am. If I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, then what I do will flow out of my identity as his disciple. Therefore, my focus should be on grasping my identity. For instance, take one of three epistles written by the apostle Paul: Romans, Galatians, or Ephesians. In each of these letters, Paul spends the beginning telling his recipients who they are in Christ. Then you find a "therefore," which is there to say, now that you get who you are, here is how you should live, or what you should do. Every single commandment in each of these letters is grounded in their identity in Christ. So why should we do those things? Because we are Jesus' disciples, the bride of Christ, adopted as sons of the King, and co-heirs with Christ. Perhaps more importantly, if we are following Jesus, we should do the things that Jesus did, right? You will know them by their fruit...

I am struggling with this because I get caught up trying to figure out how to do things better, and all the while, the more important thing for me to spend time and energy focusing on is who I am. If I really want to know who I am, I need to study the one who I belong to: Jesus. Who is Jesus? What did/does/will he do? What does he stand for? How can my life reflect him? When I grasp who he is (and subsequently, who I am in him), I begin to gain this innate sense of what I am supposed to do as his follower/student/disciple, and as a soldier in a Kingdom.

I think the reason this is hitting me upside the head like this is because it is so foundational to teaching. Being a Pastor over Small Groups who instructs through written lesson, this needs to be reflected in the lessons I write. It needs to come through in the way we do church, frankly. If we spend most of our time reminding people who they are in Christ, I am willing to bet that before long we will have a much more active, involved, and Christ-like congregation. Do you know who you are? Maybe I can help remind you...