Neither Accomplishments nor Shame

So many of us think we are what we do. It's easy to slide into getting our identity from what we do – our job, our role in our family, our ministry. Instead of living who we really are, we get into performance, unconsciously trying desperately to be good enough to be loved.

Or on the negative side, we often secretly allow ourselves to be falsely defined by our shame. Godly conviction says, “I did something wrong.” Shame says, “I am something wrong.” Once caught in this deception, instead of living who we really are, we live in fear of being discovered and put our energy into controlling so that doesn't happen.

Often, we live in both deceptions at the same time.

But the truth is, thank God, neither our accomplishments nor or shame represents who we really are. We are not what we do. We are so much more. We had intrinsic value the moment God created us in the womb, before we even had a chance to do anything good or bad.

We sons and daughters of the Most High Living God. He created us for one reason alone – for his specific pleasure – the pleasure of having relationship with us. Wow.

So our true success is defined by these two experiences – the experience of being by loved by God, and the experience of loving him back. (Success defined by anything past that is actually some form of idolatry.)

We are not orphans, although in our pain we so often live like it. To live who we really are, our true identity flows out of our sonship or daughtership with the Living God.

Seven Best Words

“Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, and Luke 19:17). For me, those are the seven most coveted words in the universe. I live and have lived my life to hear Jesus say those seven words when either he returns or I go to meet him.

Whether I actually hear them or not remains to be seen. Only he knows. But the longing to hear them centers me when life hurts. I want to respond to the painful things rightly.

How about you? What scripture inspires you most? Tell me in the comments.

No Reverse

I'm a total land-lubber, but it amazes me how much life is like sailing.

There's no reverse on a boat. I've been in small boats in lakes full of annoying weeds everywhere. Hit too thick a patch and your engine clogs. I've been in canoes going down a river, avoiding rocks by looking for the dark water triangles. In both situations, there's no reverse. You gotta figure out how to get yourself out of the jam you got into by going forward.

Life's the same way. There's no do-overs. No reverse, only forward. Thank God he is the God of restoration, and that's always moving forward.

Engines and Rudder

I'm a total land-lubber, but it amazes me how much life is like sailing.

Our passion is the ship's engines. It drives us forward when things get hard.

The rudder is our intimacy with the Lord. Without him, we're just blundering on aimlessly. With him, that passion has a purpose.

Your Picture of God

What pops to mind when you think of God? An angry old man? Zeus holding a lightening bolt, ready to strike you down if you step out of line? A kind-hearted, well-meaning, but irrelevant grandfather? George Burns? Morgan Freeman?

God has all the same emotions we do (where do you think we got them from?). Is he mostly glad or mostly angry?

Tell me in the comments.

I'll go first. My picture of God is my Lover-King. He's my King, my Savior, my Lord – I desire his will in my life not my own. When there's a conflict, I want to lose, although my flesh and lack of faith sometimes get in the way. (Just being honest here, bloggers can do that, right? :)

But first He's my Lover. My best friend. My spiritual bridegroom. That's not a sexual thing, it's a spiritual thing. It's personal. It's all about covering and living under the protection of the shelter of his wings (read Psalm 91). The Bible calls it “entering into his rest” (read Hebrews). His “rest” isn't sleeping late, but it's the lack of anxiety and worry that comes from experiencing his protection and guidance over my life. I'm excited not afraid of the future, regardless of what I see going on around me in the culture and the world.

I believe God's mostly glad.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts in the comments. What's your picture of God?