I know who I am...

     I am reminded of the song, “I know who I am” by Sinach. As Christians, we go around singing songs and making declarations but do we really believe what we are declaring or singing? So many times we are still relying on the opinion of others to help us feel good about ourselves, to affirm us. But what if that affirmation never comes? What if you do everything in your power to be affirmed but that affirmation never comes your way. Do you just give up and die? Do you start doing things that you know are wrong just to get an “I love you, I cherish you, you are special?” What measures will we go to just to hear those words or witness those affirmations? Will we sell ourselves cheap, just to get it? Sadly, many people do and many Christians do as well.
    Here’s a simple suggestion that I recently heard from someone: “accept what God says about you and reject everything else and live your life under an open heaven” (Pastor Steven Furtick). Accept and reject. Here’s the thing. If we continue accepting peoples’s opinions of us and rejecting what God says we’ll be living miserable, cursed, defeated lives. Happiness will seem elusive and depression, despair, frustration will be our constant friend. As with everything the choice is ours.
    In my own life, God has been working on delivering me from the opinions of people. We may all need that kind of deliverance. Too many times I’m concerned about what people think and that has robbed me of peace and happiness. Yet, I thank God for those negatives because what the devil was using to try to destroy my self image and ultimately me, God used to give me some much needed backbone. I had to learn to go to and stand firmly on God’s Word and on what God says about me. And God says many wonderful things about me.
    The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. He didn’t encourage himself in others, because when the chips were down and His king, Saul, was against him, and even the band of men he was leading turned against him because their wives, children and possessions had been stolen by the Amalekites, David had no one to turn to but God and that’s exactly what He did. (1 Samuel 30:6) You see, sometimes, God has to completely remove all human support so we have no one else to turn to but Him. And when that time comes - and it will - believe it or not, we still have a choice, to turn to God or to turn away from Him.
    Over the years, as I have more and more learned to turn to God instead of away from Him, I have certainly developed some backbone. I have become stronger, more self-assured, more confident about who I am because who I am is dependent on who God is and what He says about me. And as I more and more see myself through His eyes, no one can come and tell me who I am not, no one can dictate my future or my happiness. That’s God’s job. 
    So I encourage you to know who you are in Christ, not in your own self, not in what others think. And as I said earlier: Accept what God says about you and reject everything else!