My daughter loves to dress up as a princess. In fact, when she dresses up, she assumes the identity of whatever princess dress she is wearing. So when I say "Joy, you look so beautiful!", her response is a matter-of-fact "I'm not Joy, I'm Sleeping Beauty." It's really quite cute. But what if when Joy turns 20 she's still dressing up as a princess and assuming that identity. What if she never embraces her true identity as my daughter? I'd be crushed.
This Sunday we talked about our true identity. Too many of us have continued to play dress up. We have refused to accept our identity as "Child of God". The Bible is quite clear that this is how God sees us - as his children (see 1 John 3:1, Ephesians 1:4-8). The truth is though, that it's much easier to believe that about someone else than it is to believe it about ourselves. They may be a child of God, but certainly not me. They are loved, but not me. They are forgiven, but not me. It's like that childhood phrase we all used to say - "I know you are, but what am I?"
May you and I live in the reality that we are children of the King. And may we begin to say to each other "I know you are, and so am I."
1 comments:
The analogy with your daughter is a very good one. As you said, we usually find it much easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves (and that's saying something considering how hard forgiving others is).
It also gets me thinking about the ways that we think we have to change in order to become what we are. After all, your daughter doesn't have to wear any special clothes to be a princess. She was born one just because she's a daughter of God. But, like her, we often feel we have to alter our personality or wear certain external trappings (but we may not alter what's under the outward displays we hide behind) in order to be accepted as a child of God.
I love that analogy. It's so common to see but has so much wrapped up inside.
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