Who does God say you are?

By joannsblog2016 on October 16, 2019 • ( 0 )

Who does God say you are?

If you’ve never pondered this question or haven’t asked it in a while, I invite you to sit in a quiet space and think about it or ask God who you are to Him.

I did a little searching and found a few things in the Bible (version NLT) that may help you and me a little.

You are precious, honored and loved – “You are precious to Me. You are honored, and I love you.” (Isaiah 43:4)

You are known – “You have examined my heart and know everything about me.” (Psalm 139:1)

You are beautiful – “You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words.” (Song of Songs 4:1)

You are God’s treasure – “the Lord your God has chosen you to be His own special treasure” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

You are an heir of God – “we are His children, we are His heirs” (Romans 8:17)

You are an ambassador of Christ – “We are Christ’s ambassador. God is making His appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

You are chosen – “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us” (Ephesians 1:4)

You are a temple – “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

You are a masterpiece – “we are God’s masterpiece” (Ephesians 2:10)

You are His branches – “I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15:5)

You are His friend – “I no longer call you slave, because a master doesn’t confide in slaves. Now you are My friends…” (John 15:15)

You are the salt of the earth – “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13)

You are the light of the world – “You are the light of the world – like a city on the hilltop that cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14)

You are strong – “For when I weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

You are a conqueror – “despite all things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (Romans 8:37)

You are created in His image – “God created human beings in His own image.” (Genesis 1:27)

You are wonderfully made – “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous” (Psalm 139:14)

You are VERY LOVED – “This is how God loved the world; He gave His one and only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

Nothing can separate you from His love – “I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love.” (Romans 8:38)

This list is just a few verses of WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE. It’s quite an astonishing list.

I’ve read this list of verses a couple of times. Some of them seem a little difficult to accept. I ask myself – WHY? Why would I find it hard to accept these things God says I am? He is after all my creator, who formed me in my mother’s womb, who knows every hair on my head. He should know who I am more than anyone, even myself. If He says I am, then I am all these things.

My struggles seem to recycle and I find it a little amusing as I write this that I could benefit from reading my own blogs from time to time. I’ve written a few blogs that touch a little on this topic – How many labels do you wear, Not good enough syndrome, and What defines you. Each has some comparison to who we may say we are in relation to who God says we are.

This summer has really been a summer of finding my identity. I began this summer with a vessel full of junk. Not understanding the junk at first, I felt a bit overwhelmed. As I began to process it, I realized there were a few things I was struggling with – forgiving myself and feeling loved.

Feeling loved can be hard when you have had unhealthy key relationships. I’ve struggled a lot with feeling loved as a result of some of the relationships in my life. There have been times when I measured God’s love according to these relationships. Out of curiosity, I googled how many times the word “love” is mentioned in the Bible. The answer varies depending on the version but it is greater than 300 times and in some versions as much as 800.

Isaiah 43 has spoken to me for about six years when I was first introduced to St Ignatius’ spiritual exercises. It is packed with so much truth of God and His love for us. To be precious, honored and loved is a desire each of us has. God created us from love, to love and to be loved. It makes sense that our greatest desire is to be loved and to love.

A few weeks ago, I made the word loved from some jewelry wire. I hung this word around my rear-view mirror to remind me that I am loved. Today I watched this word bounce around, hitting my car rosary (also around my mirror). The word eventually intermingled with the crucifix. As I thought about this, I realized how messy love can be and that sometimes it’s through the rough terrain that we experience a greater love. I smiled as I thought how the word loved became tangled with the crucifix because this is the greatest depth of love in each of our lives. God made a statement of love when Jesus died for our salvation. His love for us was tangled in this web of our sins that were nailed to the cross. This moment in was not filled with laughter and smiles.

When I recalls times I’ve seen love given and received, the greatest acts are not wrapped up nicely and in the most joy filled moments. The moments I’ve seen love given in greater doses is when disaster hits, illness takes hold of someone, death leaves an empty hole, or sorrow consumes the broken. In these circumstances, Christ exuberates in the children of God. This is genuine love.

Today as I celebrate my life, I look back and see that I am loved by many but most of all by God. I have had the opportunity to see this genuine love in several of my dearest sisters in Christ over the last six years. Their love and the blessings in my life are definitive proof of God’s love for me. Through each of them, God has poured into me love, mercy and compassion.

The greatest gift to myself is to pour my blessings of love through this message onto each of you reading this. May you feel the love of your Heavenly Father through His word, His son, those around you and most of all through His mercy.