Friends, I cannot tell you how many people (Christians and non-Christians) I have talked to who have spent so much of their life, making it about that one thing. That ONE thing is what drove them. That ONE thing is something they would refuse to give up. That ONE thing they lived for, every day. Until one day, it was taken, and it changed everything. Or until one day, they felt God asking them to give it up, because it had become between Him and them, and to do it took EVERYTHING.
Being all about what we love and are good at isn’t bad. In fact, the very gifts that make us great at these things our FROM God, and He wants us to use them! But for HIM. We have to be very careful when our love for the gifts start to drown out the Giver Himself. Or the life or the lifestyle we are living is something we put our identity in more than Christ Himself.
Do you recognize, that without Jesus, you wouldn't be who you are? That those gifts you have, are from Him? That what makes you "you", is not you at all, but HIM? What is your identity in? Yourself and what YOU do? Or Jesus, and what HE has done for you? Because friends, after talking to the people I mentioned earlier who had it reversed, they now realize that their identity started to become more about what they DID. And they can look back now and recognize where priorities in their life started to shift.
We are not our jobs, the lifestyle we choose to live out, or the roles we have. No, if you are a follower of Jesus, your identity is in HIM, and your purpose is HIM! An heir to His Kingdom. THAT is who you are! That, is why you are here, dear friend! And THAT cannot ever be taken away from you. Everything else can, and when it does, it will feel like you lost “you” when it happens if your identity is in it. You will feel like your purpose was stripped right out of your hands as a result of it.
So, let this be a reminder to us all. That our identity and purpose in this life isn't about us, and what we can do IN it, but Jesus, what He did, and what HE wants to do through it. He gave you the gifts for a reason. You’re YOU for a reason. You have your gifts for a reason. And the reason is Him. 🙌🏼💕
