~Norman Grubb~
The other day I woke up and decided that I was going to make it a good day for myself. I pretty much succeeded, save for a few moments of frustration which Portland traffic brings. After that, I decided that I was going to have a good evening and get plenty of sleep to be ready for the next day. Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea that I am taking charge of my own life please reserve that decision for later. The point which I'm making here is that at some point in each of our daily lives almost all of us will tweak ourselves in order to improve what we see as shortcomings in how we are living. I've gone through this countless times. There will always come a time where I will look back at how I'm living my own life, slam on the brakes and take another route. Sometimes this can be a good thing. I mean, if we're somehow suffering through a bad situation or addiction, isn't it logical that one would do all they could to escape such a situation? I would hope so. We've been taught from way back to believe that we and we alone are in charge of our own lives. I and I alone am responsible for making those decisions which affect me. I get it. However, what if all which we have been taught to believe is in error? What if I'm really not in control of that person I really am? If this all sounds kind of deep, then welcome to the club my friend. Trust me, I've wandered that desert of understanding the independent self for some time. In fact, when a friend of mine hit me with the revelation that there is NO independent self it threw me for a loop from which I barely recovered to this day. No independent self? Really, dude? Wait, wasn't I created as an individual? Created in my heavenly Fathers own image? Well, yes, but the creation story does not end there. Far from it. For along the way you will see, as I have, that there is still much to learn about our own identities.
20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV
Take a minute and tell me how it is that you see your heavenly Father. Do you see Him as a loving or a vengeful God? Believe me, there is plenty of scripture to back up both of these descriptions of Him. However, I will tell you how it is that I came to my understanding of who the God I serve truly is. I weighed the evidence presented to me. I'm told that God is love {1 John 4:8}. I am told that He loved me first {1 John 4:19}. I am told that He calls me His son {1 John 3:1}. So, I am the son of the living God. This is the God which I serve. What does all of this have to do with who I really am? I'm merely setting the table for what is to come. The apostle Paul tells us in Galations that we, you and I, no longer exist, but that Christ Jesus lives through us {Galations 2:20}. Therefore, my own identity is now tied to Christ Jesus. There is no more Scott, only Christ in him. Indeed, that which we once were has perished {Romans 6:6}. So, if I am no longer who I thought I was...then who am I? Well, as Paul has proclaimed, I AM Christ who is in me. How does this relate to the entire independent self thing? Well, we are told that there is NO OTHER but God {Isaiah 45:5}. So, if there is indeed no other but God...how is it that I can be another? How is it that I, Scott, can be independent of He who breathed into me the breath of life? I have been created by my heavenly Father from the dust of the ground...I have NO independent self to speak of. All that I am is tied to who I am in Christ Jesus. But what about those times where I have slammed on the brakes of my busy life to alter its course for the better? Are we to say that God who created us has not planned each and every part of His childrens lives? Has not He who created all also created the life which I now live? If we're to say that nothing escapes His notice...then we can confidently say that He is in charge of every aspect of our lives.
5I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me.
Isaiah 45:5 NKJV
~Scott~
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