Do You Know Who You Are? Series

Do You Know Who You Are?

“I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous and your works, and that my soul knows very well.” - Psalm 139:14

Maya Angelou, an American poet and Civil Rights Activist, once said “When I found that . . . I was a child of God, when I understood that, when I comprehended that . . . when I internalized that, I became courageous. I dared to do anything that was a good thing.”

That’s a wonderful statement, isn’t it? “When I found that . . . I was a child of God . . . I became courageous. I dared to do anything that was a good thing.” If you truly come to believe that you are a child of God, it will change your life.

In the 1960s and 70s, many young people were moved by a famous poem called Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. In this poem, Ehrmann declared grandly, “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should . . ” - Max Ehrmann

The poet declares that every single person on this earth is here for a reason. The reason may be unclear to many, but everything in the universe is working perfectly as it should. Many people felt liberated and comforted by those words. But, dear Children of God, those words don’t compare to the words of St. Paul when he writes in Romans 8, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

You need to know that you are not simply the product of a universe created by chance. You are the child of a loving God who watches over you from the day you were born. You are a child of God.

God’s Love for you

There will never come a time when God will ever stop loving you. Even if you spiritually wander away, God’s love for you is secure. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” - 1 John 3:1

Jesus makes that clear in his parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The son wanted to go far away from his father, and he wanted to enjoy his life through worldly pleasures and his own desires. He did not want to wait until his father was deceased to get his inheritance. He wanted his inheritance immediately! However, the father never stopped looking for his son’s return, and there was never any question in his heart that he would welcome his son home.

Being a child of God is a permanent relationship. We say that our love for our own children will never end. Then imagine how much love God is capable of. It’s so much that John declared, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love defines God’s very nature. This is a profound truth.

Paul writes about our adoption by God. During the old Roman Empire, during an adoption, Roman society gave a child the full rights of a biological child. Because of the vulnerability of the adopted child, the new parents could NEVER abandon that child. They were responsible for that child from the point of adoption. In the same way, Jesus promised the disciples and us, “I’ll be with you always . . .” (Matt 28:20b). We are children of God and the Holy Spirit testifies to this fact. As children of God, we are heirs of God, beneficiaries of all of His power and resources, (Ephesians 1:3) and joint heirs with Christ.

God Identity of You

Many people who do not know God, struggle with their identity. They do not know their true identity in God.

Understand, if you do not know who you are, you will fall into sin and take on a false identity. You take an identity from a worldly group, and before long you will define yourself by a new false identity, a new false master. Understand that everyone is a slave to something. Everyone serves a master. That worldly master could be alcohol, drugs, lust, money, cigarettes, cars, gossip, or food. But worldly masters always make you a slave.