When I was young, back when the earth's crust was cooling and dinosaurs
walked the planet, it was popular to say things like "I'm just trying to
find myself. I want to discover who I am."
Yeah, we actually said stuff like that. It seemed really important--finding yourself, looking inward to discover that special, unique, and incredibly awesome person that was You.
Some people wasted their entire college careers trying to
find themselves, as opposed to finding a way to support themselves
whether they found themselves or not.
Anyhow, over the years I've learned that there isn't that much to discover about myself after all. Knowing who I am is pretty disappointing. You meditate and cogitate and hallucinate, and you arrive at the conclusion that there's no wonderfulness deep down inside of your precious little self. You're basically a broken, sinful person in desperate need of solutions you cannot produce yourself.
What I've come to believe is that knowing whose you, not knowing who you are, is the important thing. Maybe that's not good English, but it is good for the soul.
My answers, solutions, redemption, hope, and healing all come from the One whose very name is Savior. Belonging to Him is the best thing about me.
The other day I was reading in Mark's gospel where Jesus said, For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward (9:41). It's a great promise, but it was that phrase "because you belong to Christ" that got to me. I thought, I belong to Christ!
I will probably never understand why the Lord set His affection upon me. He chose me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The truth is, I'm basically a sheep, not so bright, prone to wander into trouble, to get tangled up and confused. But my Shepherd is awesome!
