Lent Day 28
This morning, I read this:
“Our true identity is discovered not when we find ourselves, but when we lose ourselves for Him
(John Fischer).”
This may not be from any written “Lenten” material, but it is a great thought on which to meditate….especially on the heels of yesterday’s Lenten post, and the idea of “yielding up one’s life for truth…”
It’s my belief I will NEVER be able to fully yield myself to Christ, until I live confidently in who I am in Him and am convinced of that new “i am”.
It’s a popular phrase.
I’ve heard it repeated often.
I think it may have it’s beginnings around the time I entered college.
You’ve probably heard it, as well.
It revolves around a concept of “discovering oneself.”
It seems many people are lost.
They can’t “find themselves.”
Others struggle in a search for identity…
…unsure who they are.
…Or, maybe uncertain their lives have value, they seek meaning and significance.
Yet, the Lord intends for us to “lose ourselves.”
To be lost gets us on the right road for truly discovering truth…
That road (for finding identity, discovering the true self, weighing out the value of my life) begins in a Garden…
The Garden where it all began.
The Garden that initiated my birthright of sin.
The Garden that revealed to me my desperate need of a Savior.
There, I have to re-discover my sinfulness.
The beauty of re-discovering my sinfulness is that it removes the blinders so I can see my real value.
That value doesn’t come in anything I can do, or any quality character I may have.
My value, believe it, or not, is shown most, because of the very thing that’s wrong with me: my sin!
The fact that I’m a sinner, actually means something…it means I am worth quite a lot…worth the price of Someone dying on my behalf.
“Sin is a tragedy because we are worth something. It ultimately destroys us. It brings down a good thing (John Fischer).”
So, the Lord God entered the business of redemption. He made us. We are His creation. No matter what we did wrong, or how much sin we got ourselves into, He loved us. Then, He bought us back…and what a price He paid!
There it is…the root of my identity…
…Not in finding myself.
But in losing myself, so He could find me, buy me, free me.
I lose myself…FOR (!) Him (!)
So He can make me NEW…
As I’m made new…
…my true identity comes alive…
Therefore, in Christ I am a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17