In my last entry we established that we are:
1. Fearfully and wonderfully made, even if we don't believe in
God or Jesus. We are still a living testimony so intricate in design.
2. Once we truly accept and receive Jesus into our beings we
inherit His spirit into ourselves. This means we are now part of the same
family. We are related to,
connected to every other person that has accepted Jesus into themselves. We are
all part of one body. The body of Christ.
That's a heavy thought. And here is a simple one; now that Jesus
and His spirit live in us, we can be like Him. That can be the foundation of
who we are. When I looked up the word Indentity, this is what I found in the
Webster's dictionary;
*sameness
of essential or generic character in different instances
*sameness
in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing : oneness
*the condition of being the same with something
described or asserted
All the days I wandered around trying to "find myself"
"soul- search", be this and be that!
All I had to do was look at Jesus. It's so overdone. Remember
when people wore those "WWJD" what would Jesus do bracelet's? That
may have hurt this idea more than helped it. It became so obvious I overlooked
it! Or I knew it and forgot it somewhere along the way. I don't have to
"find me", I just have to KNOW HIM.
I'm not saying we have to be clones or that we have to act the
same way. I'm sitting here at a coffee shop looking at the old buildings up and
down the street, some red brick, some painted yellow stucco, some old and
rustic, some trendy and sleek- we can each be as unique and different as these
buildings. We can express ourselves differently, have different strong points,
different interests and different personalities as long as at our core, at our
foundation we have the character of Christ. That makes sense since we are part
of His body and each part of the body serves a different purpose.
So who is He that lives inside of me? What is He like? I could
write volumes and not fully explain or understand how wonderful Jesus'
character and identity is, but the place I want to start at is His meekness and
humility.
Jesus said Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will
inherit the earth.
In the Bible, meekness means gentleness, caring.
Basically not being biting, harsh, cruel, but gentle. All through the Bible we
are reminded that we should humble ourselves and He will raise us up. Jesus
said "the first shall be last and the last shall be first". It is
better to take the worst seat and be asked to take the best seat instead of
taking the best seat and being demoted.
The definition of humility is "low" or
"from the earth". Jesus put others above himself, cared for them by
literally coming down to the earth, to our level to raise us up. Maybe that’s
were we get the phrase and say “he/she is so down to earth”. Humility isn't an
attitude we wear on our sleeve that tells people we are unworthy or below them
or belittling our achievements or talents. That is false humility and it is one
of the worst things we can fall into. It is the counterfeit of true humility.
True humility is when we can lower ourselves to everyone's level, take the
lowest position, not defend ourselves when accused because we are confident of
who we are IN Christ and don't need to prove it by rising up. God, will raise
us up as suredly as He raised Christ from the dead.
A God that would willingly become a helpless baby in the care of
sinful human's is humble beyond understanding. Someone who would endure a
shameful and humiliating death by choice is so beautifully meek and long
suffering. Jesus is the lamb that was slain, He didn't open His mouth to defend
Himself when accused. He didn't puff up with pride even though His
understanding of God and the scriptures far surpassed everyone around Him.
Jesus is the bread of life, the UNLEAVENED bread. That
means it does not rise, it cannot rise, it has no yeast in it at all. When we
take the communion and when we look at the cross- the most recognized sign for
Christ- the first thing that comes to mind is humility and meekness. That is
the first part of the characteristic of Christ we should ascribe to our own
identity.
Meditate on it, think upon it- the beautiful humility
and long-suffering of Jesus. And then, let's pray the we will live with that
beautiful part of Jesus in us, to raise other people up.
Now when we write the definition after our names it
goes like this:
Lindsey: 1. Fearfully and wonderfully made
2. Part of the actual body of Christ, A living temple for God's spirit,
given all the power and authority that Christ paid for.
3. Emulator of Christ, showing:
a. His gentleness, and true humility (becoming low to raise others up)