ICS Daily Devotions
Who Do You Think You Are?
We can have peace, the kind that surpasses all understanding, in our hearts when we know that we are justified in the eyes of God, when we know that we are accepted by God.
Ephesians 1:6 (NKJV) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us ACCEPTED in the Beloved. (emphasis added)
Everyone has insecurities. Some hide it well whilst others are crippled by these insecurities. Our perception of who we are will affect the way we carry ourselves; speech, fashion, lifestyle, including our behaviour towards self and others. We may not be aware that it also affects our relationship with God because we misguidedly think that God looks at us the same way the people of the world do.
We must remember that God is not a mortal beset with emotions and prejudice. We must learn to take His thoughts to be of the highest order in our lives. If God, the Creator, said that we are wonderfully made, then we are wonderfully made indeed. That God had done so much and gone so far to cause us to be accepted in the Beloved is more than enough to show us our worth in His eyes. We will never have full acceptance from everyone, and neither should we aspire to have it.
This insecurity and the fear of rejection in men began when Adam and Eve sinned against God and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. It came with the fall, along with all sorts of distortions, and all of humanity from then till now struggle with the effects of sin.
God operates in covenant relationship―the highest form of commitment in a relationship. And we have an everlasting covenant with God established through the blood of Jesus Christ. We can call on our covenant Partner, just like young David did when he was faced with trials. We can call upon Jesus in our distress, tribulation, and adversity. He who did not spare His own son but gave Him up for us all, would He not freely give us all things?
Our identity is this: we were made in the image of God. And through the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, we were brought back into the fold, now having the nature of God in us. There is no greater identity than that. And there is no greater authority than God. I know who I am. Who do you think you are?
Sermon Series: The Day that Changed the World – Resurrection Sunday
