October 22, 2008
Identity
The Lord prompted me recently to pull everything out of the attic and seek him for discernment as to what my husband and I were to get rid of. It was part of another season of purging and cleansing. We gathered the ministry team and set a Saturday aside to open and rummage through boxes that had gathered a lot of dust over the years. It was interesting the items that the Lord revealed needed to be thrown out: some framed pictures, my seventh and eighth grade scrapbooks, old report cards, some of my husband’s military memorabilia, and my deceased grandmother’s jewelry. We obeyed, and in the morning I began pondering and inquiring of the Lord as to what the things represented and why they were detrimental to my walk with Him.
He brought Philippians 3:3-11 to mind.
3 For
we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh,
4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may
have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the
stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning
the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count
all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count
them as rubbish , that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness, which is from the law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if,
by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have
already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold
of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not
count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are
mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God
will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless,
to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let
us be of the same mind.
He began to show me that many of the things we keep and hold on to are memorials we have built that define who we are. In other words, we have often built our identity around our past accomplishments, our family history, and events in our life.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5:16-17, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one
according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.”
Our identity is to be found in Christ alone. We are not who we are based on our works (i.e. accomplishments, diplomas, awards). We are not to put any confidence in the flesh. The memorials in our lives should remind us of who God is not who we are. There are times in our walk with the Lord where as we begin to grow, that we will have to let go of something in order to know Him better. Philippians 3 verse 8 says we will have to count them as rubbish. Interesting that that is where our things went—in the trash—thrown out. We counted them as having no value—not worth holding on to. Why? Because if they could hold us back from knowing Him, We would suffer their loss to gain Christ! Sometimes, letting go means dying to self—choosing His will over our own--fellowshipping in His sufferings. However, if I fellowship in His sufferings, I will also know Him in His resurrection! When Jesus died, He didn’t need to take anything with Him to His grave, because when He was resurrected, God gave Him a new body, one that was glorified! God will never ask us to give anything up that He can’t replace with something better! He makes all things new!
Want to know God in a new way? Ask God to reveal to you anything that you need to get rid of, so you can know Him more intimately. What things in your past hold you back from your future with God? Is it time to clean out the attic? There are some things that seem very difficult to let go of even if we haven’t taken them out of a box in years. Those may be the most detrimental to our walk with the Lord. Some things do more than collect dust. The enemy will use them to hold us back and tie us down.
Don’t allow material items have a spiritual hold on you. A dead man never has a U-Haul pulled behind His hearse.
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19
Janet
Fairbrother