8 November

In a high school writing class that I once facilitated, I asked the students to write something morbid - their own epitaph. I asked them to start with the phrase: "Here lies.....", and follow it up with words that would describe them, describe how they lived their lives, or something that they just want to leave to the world as a final impression.

"Here lies a teacher who was very dedicated in teaching....... Here lies a scientist who discovered the cure for cancer..... a housewife....... a good student, a good son, and a good father......"

What defines us? If we lose our job, can we still be the employee who's regarded as indispensable by the company? If we were given the Most Valuable Player Award or the Most Beautiful Face Award, can that still be us 20 or 50 years later? If we lose all our children, can we still say that I am a father or a mother?

We have the tendency to equate our identity with how people see us or how we see ourselves by what we have accomplished, (All their children have finished college, they are parents who are very good providers) or what we have failed to become or what we don't have (I'm such a loser). If we rely on what things of this world say who we are, we're missing out on something bigger. Something that has been destined for us by our Heavenly Father, the creator and preserver of all things.

Moses was raised in a royal family. A handsome, confident, trained man. He surely would've been the next king! Until he made a mistake and killed an Egyptian. He broke a rule. Moses had to run away. He ended in the wilderness and became a shepherd. A downward move, a total career shift. From manager down to maintenance. He can't go back to his former plush life. Four decades have passed and he was still Moses the shepherd. He was pretty stuck. An old, tired and smelly man. This is all there is to it, thought Moses, I can't go anywhere, I can't be anybody, I'll just tend my sheep.

God thought otherwise.

God has a plan, a plan that was created even before Moses was born. Moses is to be sent to set free the Israelites. Moses said someone else can do the job. He was 80 then, but God wasn't through with him. God has a plan.

"But he replied, 'My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.' So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am." 2 Cor. 12:9 (Contemporary English Version)

God does not hold anything against us nor does He turn His back when we have setbacks. When Jonah disobeyed God, God's plan was derailed. Jonah was thrown into the ocean, but God already has a Plan B. God made a detour. Jonah knew of his disobedience and he came to God with boldness, admitted his failure and got back to the presence of the Mighty and Merciful Father. In spite of it all, he honored God.

Our mistakes or failures may hinder us from facing God. But God has already designed a destiny for each of us and it is a destiny that a loving father would give his children, a destiny that is bigger than our mistakes. When you tell your child not to climb on the highest branch of a tree but the child still goes up and got stuck and isn't able to climb down, aren't you going to come to the child's rescue rather than reprimand and say 'I told u so'?

"But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name..." (John 1:12 Amplified Bible)

Who am I? When I say im 27/F/Philippines, does that define me? When I say I'm a teacher, does that define me? When I received Jesus Christ, I already became someone. What I get out of my relationship with Jesus (his love, peace, companionship) are just secondary. First of all, I became someone. I made many mistakes in the past, and I still do make mistakes, I fail, I miss opportunities, I get rejected but those are apart from what God thinks of me.

When Jesus was living on earth, he was constantly secure of his identity. He was born out of a virgin mother in a manger. A prophesied king who was born in a manger. That was kinda weird wasn't it? Sounds like he was brought here by aliens because he was conceived out of nowhere. But Jesus only looks at his relationship with the Heavenly Father, nothing else. What other people tells of him didn't matter. He was confident because he knew who he was, the Prince of prince and the Lord of lords - that's what the Father told him.

"You used to be like people living in the dark, but now you are people of the light because you belong to the Lord. So act like people of the light." Ephesians 5:8 (Contemporary English Version)

First we recognize God's call to fulfill the destiny He has for us. Let's claim that we are children of His kingdom, living in the light, and everything else will fall into its place. There are things which we may be tempted to do although we know it is bad, but knowing that we belong to the Lord, and that we are people of the light, we know that we could overcome through the strength He gives us.


J.B.