Am I what I do?
Teacher
Am I what I have achieved?
Graduate, Winner, Director
Am I the thing I’ve done right? Am I defined by the things I’ve done wrong? Am I what others think of me?
Nowadays we feel the pressure to define ourselves through our jobs, financial status, successes, grades or appearance. The list is endless and with it comes several more questions. What happens to our identity when we experience failure? What happens when we become burnt out on our frontlines? The foundation of our identity is shaken and changes. It is important for us to base our identity on the way God sees us and therefore we need to know how God sees us.
Ephesians 1 reminds us of who we are.
Blessed
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Wow! Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Every means all and there are no exceptions. The teacher in me has to pick up on the past tense used in this verse ‘blessed. It’s a done deal. This is not something that’s yet to happen. Instead, God has blessed us with all these blessings and so much more! Do you belong to Christ? Yes. Then these blessings are yours.
Chosen
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love”
Before the world was created we were ‘chosen’ in Christ. We had nothing to do with this act of God’s grace as we were not alive when the world was created. God did not choose us because we were beautiful, kind, smart, smart, or good. His choice had absolutely nothing to do with our good works but absolutely everything to do with his grace. His undeserved favour
Loved
It is because of God’s love that he lavishes his grace, favour and kindness on us. It is because of His love that he gave his only son and blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
All the privileges given to us by God because of Jesus are ours because of his love. God’s love for us is based completely on his character and not on our behaviour. It is an unconditional love.
It is so important that we see ourselves the way God sees us and that our thoughts and attitudes line up with who God says we are according to the scriptures. We only just scratched the surface with this passage. I’d encourage you to delve deeper into the word of God and see what else you can pick out from this passage. Remember to walk daily in the knowledge that you are loved, chosen and blessed by God and nothing can change these truths!
Written by Mayowa Akinloye
