Saturday, April 9, 2011

" I have to find myself!"

Have you ever heard that statement made by someone you know?  Perhaps you have made that statement before.  Pop psychology promotes this thought.  - I never quite knew the meaning of "finding myself".

In my devotions yesterday I was reading something and within that reading there was a sentence or two about "finding ourselves" and so I decided to address this today

For the believer, I don't understand wanting to getting to "know ourselves" as being a priority.  Spending time on this is spending time in the very thing we are called to put off- our flesh, our human  ways and desires.  According to the Word of God, when we become Christians we are to count ourselves dead to self but alive in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11 (NKJV)
"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Paul had an understanding of the power of the "old man" and the temptation to resurrect it- that is why he said "I die daily" (I Corinthians 15:31b)

Spending too much time finding ourselves can also be quite depressing- it spends time focusing on who we WERE before Christ, which is a pretty wretched sin sick individual.  Paul refused to look at the past, he said he was forgetting that which was behind and pressing on- Philippians 3:13.

So instead of pondering on "finding ourselves" what should we be thinking about- who should we be trying to find out more about and ever increasing in knowledge of?  Well the Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ answer that question perfectly

Let's look at what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:8-10 (NKJV)


"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

Now let's look at the last recorded prayer of Jesus Christ.  John 17:3 (NKJV)

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent"

It is not a question of acquaintance with ourselves, or of knowing what we are, or what we do, or what we feel; it is simply a question of becoming acquainted with God, and getting to know what He is and what He does, and what He feels.  Comfort and peace can never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him.If we were planning to take a dangerous voyage, our first question would be as to the sort of captain we were to have.  Our common sense would tell us that if the captain were untrustworthy, no amount of trustworthiness on our part would make the voyage safe; and it would be his character and not our own that would be the thing of paramount importance to us."


Friend, this life can be compared to a dangerous voyage.  Everyday we face the waves of terror, war, disease, a poor economy, gangs and violence on every scale.  I know that knowing myself cannot divert any of this.....I want to know the Captain of the ship!  The One who holds the whole world in His hands.  The One whose eye is on the sparrow and who knows exactly how many hairs I have on my head.  He is in control and knowing Him puts my heart at peace....for nothing can separate me from Him.  Praise you Jesus!

Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV)  "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities not powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, or any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Don't allow Satan to rob your joy by focusing on "finding yourself".  Concentrate on knowing the One who came to find you and me, lost sheep in need of a Savior.  Make a commitment today to focus on knowing Christ!

To God be the glory!