A few months ago at a family gathering, we asked my nephew, who is two and a half, if he wanted some milk. He said, quite resolutely, “no.” Then we asked if he wanted to do this or that, and the response was repeatedly the same. More humorous questions ensued, culminating with “Are you a human being?” “No.” “What are you then?”
“I’m just Max.”
If only we could answer grown-up questions of identity with such easy confidence. Who am I? What should I do with my life? What do I really want? Am I a good parent…child…sibling… worker…boss…friend…neighbor…human being?
These questions are important. It matters deeply what we do and how. It matters because of who we are. It matters because of whose we are. However else we may define ourselves, we are quite simply those whom God has created and loves. It is in Him that our true and only identity rests. It is in Him that we shed sin and weakness, false assumptions and misguided expectations, and become purely ourselves. Just who we are.
Lord, let us hold in our hearts that we are your children, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Jesus appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. {1 John 3:2}
Jennifer Shaw
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