Who Am I Series

Topical

March 22nd, 2009

Who Am I?

A wise man once told me: there are two kinds of people in this world; the people who liked high school and the people who hated it, and generally the people who hated it did so because of the people who liked it. This statement resonated with my life because I hated high school. It is such an awkward time where you are growing up your not dependent but you are not ready to be independent. Your body starts to go through some strange changes. Your voice cracks and gets deeper, you start growing facial hair for most people at least unless you are a girl or me and your face is immune to hair growth. High school is just a really awkward time in most peoples lives. We start changing. We search for our identity for who we are and what we are going to do with our lives. High school is really the first time where you start thinking about the future, about what you will do in your life, and about responsibility. You remember those times? Most all of us did something embarrassing in our search for our identity. I had this dream of being a rock star of being the lead singer of a band. I started writing songs, paid for voice lessons and everything because part of me believed that this is who I was going to be. Of course none of this takes into consideration that when I sing it sounds like a squirrel in a trash compactor. One of the greatest mercies I offer you is waiting until after the songs are over to turn on my microphone. When all this was happening I was trying to find my identity. I was asking the question: who am I? See we do some crazy things when we are searching for our identity and trying to figure out who we really are. Some of us are still searching and some of us believe we have found our answer but who are we? Who you are defines how you live. I would like to take you on a little journey and see if we cannot find the answer to this question. In Psalm 8 we can see the struggle David has with this very question as he writes:

Ps 8:3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, Ps 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Ps 8:5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Ps 8:6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: Ps 8:7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, Ps 8:8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Ps 8:9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

What is man? What is so significant about man that an almighty God would care for him? Man is a unique creation. We are different. Scientists may note some similarities in genetic patterns between man and animal but there is still a great many distinctions. Animals exist to survive. Some may be beautiful creatures some of them sing beautiful songs but these are not acts of creativity they are a part of the life of this animal. Man is creative. There is something inside of us that takes great satisfaction from creating, from making something. Whether that is dinner or the Mona Lisa something about us desires to create. That is one of many differences. Animals are not capable of abstract thinking they do not have complex reasoning skills. Look at morality. If a bear attacks you in the woods that bear is it evil? No, it is not evil it is acting on its base instincts. Animals do what they do because they have been conditioned or it is in their nature. Man is different. If you look at most civilizations you will find a strange universal law. Even before the Judeo-Christian ethic was well know there was an understanding that certain things were right and wrong. Most societies have held that lying, stealing, or murder is wrong. Where did that come from? How is it that people of different cultures, generations, countries so often reach the same conclusions about the essential right and wrong actions of a person? There is this universal law that seems to exist, an innate understanding to some degree of right and wrong. This law seems to be a part of who we are. Animals dont have it, only man does.