and am known of mine.
John 10:14
It's bad enough that there is so much confusion in the "secular world", but it's downright shameful that so many "professed" Christians are operating in the state of confusion they are. They cannot define who to follow, where to go, how to get there--they truly are ...like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. James 1:6. They are in a crisis: identity crisis.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. John 15:15,16.
During a recent conversation, this was overheard: "I don't feel like a man if I don't have any money in my pockets." Another conversation included this remark: "I don't have anything...I am nothing without what I used to own." Part of our identity crisis, my friends, is due to what we use to define ourselves: material possessions. I well remember, as a little girl, I used to think people were rich if they drove new cars. I was often surprised, when, after a church service, Daddy and Mama would accept an invitation to visit with folks in their homes and we'd pull up to a house that looked about ready to fall down, but still, they had a new car. With a child's understanding, I'd measure them by the outward appearance of what they "owned". If all I'd ever seen was that new car of theirs, I'd have put them on the "rich list"--yet had I passed their home without having seen the new car there, I'd have pitied their lack. You understand what I am saying?
If riches could buy happiness and contentment, or even as many claim, a "good substitute" for it, perhaps the Menendez brothers would not be serving life sentences for murder today. Perhaps Cristina Onassis would not have suffered the mental anguish she reportedly went through. Perhaps the Remington heiress would not have spent her lifetime, alone, save for her seances and the builders who worked around the clock to "appease the spirits".
Time after time, we've all seen the interviews--those who have "won lotteries"--great wealth--only to later claim it "ruined their lives". No, it wasn't the riches that "ruined them"--it was their lack of wisdom in knowing how to deal with their changed status.
We've all heard the misquote: "money is the root of all evil". The actual scripture is, For the love of money is the root of all evil... I Timothy 6:10. Let's see that "quote" in its context:
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I Timothy 6:5-12.Come on now: let's read that again.
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and FOLLOW AFTER righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I Timothy 6:5-12.
A Greek philosopher was asked for the secret to happiness. He answered, "Add not to a man's possessions but take away from his desires." Nobody advocates poverty--not even "Christians". There is no special virtue in being poor, or in having a constant struggle to "make ends meet". However, there are two very important realizations: (1) It is never in the power of "things" to bring happiness. E. K. Simpson said: "Many a millionaire, after choking his soul with gold-dust, has died from melancholia." Happiness always comes from personal relationships. How many of us, here today, would gladly trade all the toys you ever had for more time with your dad?
As I tell my own children now, NOTHING is a substitute for time invested in a child's life. I've met folks, even in this "modern day and age" that are literally "dirt poor", but their children are better behaved and happier children, exhibiting great fondness for and closeness to, one another, than children of parents who appease their children with material possessions, rather than invest time with them. I challenge you to ask any child who holds great fondness for his or her parents: they will tell you, it is "because of the time we spent together". And the greatest loss in the world? The saddest sight? A parent who is left behind in the "Land of I Wish I Had..." when their child is gone from this life, or the child who never knew their parent(s) because the adults were driven by lust for material possessions.
Even those of the "secular world"--psychologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, teachers, judges, counselors, anyone who works with or around children, urge us to "spend MORE time with our children". You DON'T hear them advising that we spend "more time at the office", more "money on material goods"--you hear them warning, "The thing a child needs most is love." And LOVE is an ACTION WORD--investing time in our families and those we have brought into this world. The happiest, most content marriages I have ever observed, and you have too, if you will think back about it, are those we've seen where couples spend time with one another, NOT in what they owned. The best foundation we can lay for our children, is our love toward them, and love does not mean "possessions". It means providing a balance of that which they need: guidance and necessities, which includes a LOT of time.
I want you to remember this: ALL the things in the world will not make a person happy if he (or she) knows neither friendship nor love! The TRUE Christian knows that the secret of happiness lies, not in things, but in people. Understand, without exception, what counts is not in what we leave behind for others, but the memories we have made along the way. Thieves can break in and steal possessions, storms can destroy, rust can eat up, but memories, good memories, teach and sustain us through all things. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21.
(2) Nearly all of us here have watched as programs on our tv's showed great discoveries of Egyptian pyramids and other cultures being uncovered. Great wealth, of glittering gold and trinkets, all kinds of possessions, are unearthed, around their owners. Yet their owners are just as dead as they ever were, and those "things" are right where they were initially placed. Remember the scripture passage we read only a few moments ago? But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. I Timothy 6:6-8.
Seneca said, "You cannot take anything more out of the world than you brought into it." A Spanish proverb grimly tells us: "There are no pockets in a shroud." One of the best pastors I ever had the blessing to learn from used to say, "There are no U-Hauls hooked to the hearse." E. K. Simpson said, "Whatever a man amasses by the way is in the nature of luggage, no part of his truest personality, but something he leaves behind at the toll-bar of death." In planning for my own demise, I have instructed my children to not go to great expense on rituals or memorials--if it takes them going to a graveyard to stare at a tombstone to remember me, I didn't accomplish much, did I? I want, whatever is left, if anything, to go to the living, not some great show for a dead person. I will never again need anything this world could possibly offer.
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Galatians 4:9. True contentment comes when we escape bondage to "things", when we find our wealth in the love and the fellowship of other people, when we realize that our most precious possession is our friendship with God, made possible through Jesus Christ.
I want, today, to leave you with something to think on, as you go about your lives this next week. So many of us suffer from "identity theft". I'm not talking about someone using our social security numbers or drivers' license. It's awful when that happens to us, but this kind of Identity Theft is worse than that--it's the theft of your "eternal identity"! I'm telling you, we "Christians" have SOLD OUT to the gain of material possessions, my friends. We have "rented" ourselves out cheap to that which is not of God, nor gives God any glory. We, as Christians, are following after everything BUT Christ, and in so doing, have allowed the enemy of our soul to take away our faith, our liberty in Christ, our boldness in witnessing, our ability to be overcomers through the power of the Holy Ghost! We, through our own lusts, have ALLOWED our enemy to steal our identity!
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:15-17.
I want to ask you today: "Whose are you?" Do you have the reassurance in your heart and mind that you truly belong to God? Is He your Lord and Master? Or are you identified only by that which you own? Well, if that's the case, here's a traumatic bit of news for you: NOTHING belongs to you. It is ONLY BECAUSE of the MERCY and GRACE of Jesus Christ, that you have what you have, what you think you "own". If you are not giving God the glory for all that is in your life, why not? Is there something in your life that is not glorifying to God? Get it out of your life! If there is ANY thing that stands between you and your Savior, get rid of it, today! Don't wait any longer--you can't afford to.
Are you easily identified as a "CHRISTian"--that is, a FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST? Are you a BIBLE CHRISTian or a "World Christian"? Do people know by the way you keep your word, the joy in your step, the victory in your smile, the witness of your words, that you are a Child of God? Or have you had your identity stolen? It's time to take it back, and let the world see, through you, this Jesus of Whom we speak.
If you are unhappy in your spirit, if you are defeated and dejected by the storms of life, if you have something against someone in your heart, if you are bound by habits that keep you from being the person you can be for Christ, your identity has been stolen! WHATEVER it is, if there is something in your life that keeps you from being Who you can be in Christ, today is the day to RECLAIM your identity in Christ, and go forth, in victory, in the liberty of Jesus Christ, to be who you can be for Him! Not with signboards, not with bumper stickers, not with fish decals, not with jewelry statements, but in victorious living through Him. It WILL show--it DOES show, and if you are not presenting the picture to the world of a loving Savior, Who wishes to draw all men to Him, RECLAIM your identity, TODAY, right now.
Quit being a toe dabbler--make a FULL commitment to Christ, from this day forward, to do all you can to promote HIS cause, not your own agenda. Surrender every facet of your life, your very being, to Him, in full recognition that He IS your Lord and Master. Do NOT allow the enemy of your soul another second to steal that which God has for you, from you! The devil is a liar--the Word of God tells us, ...He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44.
When the enemy of your soul tells you that God has no time for you, he's lying! When the enemy of your soul tells you that God doesn't love you, he's lying! When the enemy of your soul tells you that God is far away from you, he's lying! When the enemy of your soul tells you that "it doesn't matter", he's lying! Turn away from the lies, today, and RECLAIM YOUR IDENTITY in Christ.
"Identity Crisis" Copyright © 2003 by Patricia Sikes.
All Rights Reserved.
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