Billy shares his thought for the week; embracing our identity as children of God.

Today we hear a lot about identity. But it’s important that we know who we are as children of God, that we are made in God’s image and likeness that we are who we are by the grace of God. Everything I have in life, everything that I am is based on his grace toward me. As the apostle Paul said,

I am what I am by the grace of God.

1 Corinthians 15:10

I love what the Psalmist said:

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.

Psalm 138:8

So rather than create your own identity, come to understand how perfect you are in the sight of God.

But for us on our journey of faith, it’s important that He increases and I decrease. And so often we can have a fixation on self and be self-centred and it all revolves around me, who I am and what I do. It’s important to give God the honour because he is our maker, he is our creator, and the source of our living comes from him.

There is a story in Greek mythology about a little boy who looked into the water. The fable goes that Narcissus was a beautiful hunter and as a boy, his face looked as if were chiselled from the purest of marble. His beauty attracted others to him but he would never ever get close to others because he found another love. And the story goes that at the age of 16, he stooped down to sip water from a pool and as he knelt down the image he saw in the pool transfixed him. Immediately he discovered his new love, the image of himself.

God forbid that we have that spirit where we, yes there is a healthy love of loving ourselves, but God forbid that we don’t allow others to get close to us because, we are self-centred in our own needs, in our own way of living. Narcissus was obsessed with himself. But I pray that on our journey we will allow God to increase and me to decrease. As the Apostle Paul said,

For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

May Christ be the centre of our living. Not me, but him.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.