The Good Of The Father (Self Knowing)

 

With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ.  Now that which I now living in the flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me 

Paul to the Galatians 2: 20, Concordant New Testament 

There is a good thing to be said about having self confidence.  The knowing of who we are and what our abilities are.  The strong, self confident person rarely is concerned with what the outside world has to say about them.  They know who it is that they are, and they stick to that script.  Yet I say that true self confidence lies not in what you can do, but in who it is that you are in the eyes of the Father.  As I walk into the gym each day I rest in the confidence that I am a child of the living God {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  It matters not what I can or cannot do, not what the world thinks of me.  I am confident that in the eyes of the Lord, I am perfect.  But when we speak of self-confidence, we all too often get sidetracked into the worlds narrative of who they proclaim that we are.  Trust me, those in the world can find many things which will throw us off of our own belief in ourselves.  I have a dear friend who for years has adhered to the narrative that he is a world class jerk.  Of course, this may have been the way in which he conducted himself, but is that the man he really is?  I would say no.  Yet he will continually offer up apologies for being the kind of man the world makes him out to be.  This IS NOT true self confidence.  True self confidence or, as I refer to it, self knowing, reassures us that our true identity lies not with who the world says that we are, but in how the Father sees us.  For example, if you continually proclaim yourself a jerk because that is what so many others in your life have led you to believe, what does that make God out to be?  For if we are indeed created in His likeness, wouldn't that make God a jerk as well?  I am smart enough to know that the Father is nothing like a jerk, and I indeed carry His identity within me {Genesis 1:27}.  

And we know and believe the love which God has in us.  God is love, and he who is remaining in love is remaining in God, and God is remaining in him.  In this love is perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judging, seeing that, according as He is, so are we also in this world.  

First Epistle of John 4: 16-17, Concordant New Testament  

I will be the first to admit that the voices of those around us can be pretty influencing.  There have been plenty of times that I have given in to what others saw me as.  Of course, this was an error in my own thinking at the time.  Indeed, this is how I see the situation that my friend now finds himself in.  Too many people for too many years have led him to believe that he is not as the Father truly sees him.  And just like I did, he has bought into that narrative hook, line and sinker.  The only way out of this caldron of low self esteem is truly knowing in your heart and mind how it is that our heavenly Father looks upon you.  It wasn't until my eyes were opened to the truth of my own life in Christ Jesus that I began to chip away at the negativity that the world around me continued to proclaim I was.  I wasn't that lousy, good for nothing person they said I was.  In reality, when the Father looks upon me, He sees His own Son.  For that is who I am.  The apostle John speaks to this truth when he proclaims that as the Father is, so are we also in this world {First Epistle of John 4:17}.  So as the Father is, so are we also in this world which He created.  Our life remains in Him. 

In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you

Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~