Throughout these intense and arduous times, sometimes we forget who we are. We continuously take in a multitude of information from the world around us. We gather information about who we are by the friends we hang out with, acquaintances, our families and authority figures, role models we choose and all forms of media from the movies, music, celebrities, social media ‘influencers’ and even ourselves. From my experience, taking in who we are from the world isn’t healthy nor peaceful. It often becomes corrosive and poisonous, causing excessive doubts and internal arguments. So then, who am I? What is my purpose? What does it mean to live a good life? These are the questions that every single human being has asked themselves at one time or another, and most of them are never truly answered. So, in this article, we will try to answer all these questions step by step.
Who am I? That question has been asked by every single teenage kid, because that small question is one of the most important aspects of our lives. In order to understand who we are, we must understand where we came from, our origin or in other words, our genesis. The Bible, the Word of God, is the most reliable and accurate source in the world. Christianity, compared to any other religion, shines through and is seen in our reality as being true. So, according to the Bible, how were we made? In Genesis 1, the beginning of the Bible and all creation, it says when God created mankind, we had a perfect relationship with Him, He deemed us good. Then why are there evil and wicked people in the world? That’s where Genesis 3 comes in and says how Adam and Eve, who represented all of mankind, disobeyed and ran away from God, brought sin into the world, which is the separation from God. And who is God? God is the creator of the universe and whose character and nature are the source of moral principles including joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; furthermore, these virtues come from living the life of following God as shown in Galatians 5:22-23. So, when we turn away from God, we turn away from what is good and life-bringing. This begs the question, “Since naturally we disobey and sin against God, how do we become good in His eyes?” In the New Testament of The Bible, the four gospels talk about how God sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to sacrifice Himself to take away all of mans’ past, present, and future sin. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit so that we might have that perfect relationship with God again. Those who repent, are baptized, believe in the gospel, and devote their life to God, following and doing what God commands (which is good for us), gain a new spirit which is pure, perfect and good in the eye’s of God. So, now that we are full circle, God is the only righteous judge of who we are, since He is the creator of all things. And so, God declares that we are loved, cherished, unique, forgiven, cared for, and never alone. We, as Christians, are the Body of Christ seeking to glorify Him by bringing truth, love, creativity, and blessings to the world, so we may create more disciples and bring Heaven on Earth.
Now, that we have a fairly good understanding of who we are, the next step is to understand our purpose. You see, when Jesus Christ left His disciples to go sit on the right side of our Father, He said in Mathew 28, “Because Jesus Christ the light in the darkness of this world gave His Holy Spirit to us, we get to be lights in the world. We have authority from God to bring forth the Kingdom of God to Earth. Also, with the image of God, God wants us to be joyful and to use our creativity to create beauty and put passion in our work to glorify Him. Jesus prompted us to encourage and strengthen our friends and even strangers. Jesus didn’t just heal only righteous people but also the sinners, tax collectors, widows, orphans, and broken people in the world. And so, as followers of His image, we should go out and do the same and be examples of who God wants us to be. There are still people who need to be shown how great it is to be with God, how life-giving it is to live a life with a caring, loving and great God.
How to live a good life is rather simple, yet takes great faith and trust. It is to simply to believe and put to practice God’s Word. The reality of this world is simply this: Our world is a fallen world corrupted by sin and evil powers over this present darkness (Ephesians 6:12). We were not put on earth to have a pleasurable and comfy life; but rather, to have a love-relationship with Him, to love Him above all, to work, grow, share what we have with others, and live in the victory that we have through Him. Brothers and Sisters, Truly I say to you, we all have victory over death all due to Jesus sacrificing His life when He was brutally tortured and shed His blood on Mount Calvary to pay for all of mankind’s sins. By this we, as followers of God, gain eternal life with God in heaven, and so on earth there is nothing that anyone should fear, be anxious, or critical about, or lose hope for, because as it is written in Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
In conclusion, our identity comes from our living and gracious God Who is loving, merciful, gracious, just, holy and good. Our purpose is in what God, who fully knows who we are since from creation, says what we should do and with doing those works we find a fruitful and joyful life in an unwavering relationship with God. To those who have forgotten who you are due to the worldly distractions and sin, I hope this message gave you a recollection of what is important and true. God is willing to accept anyone with open arms and unconditional love. So please understand what is true and good and live it out to further glorify God’s perfect name.