Who Is He? Who Are You?

How did Jesus perform all those miracles in his ministry? How did he manage to keep his cool when so many were accusing him of evil? How could he persist in his calling, when so many events in his life could have discouraged him completely? How did he defeat Satan's temptations and drive the enemy away? I believe a large share of Jesus' steadfastness throughout
his ministry, was because Jesus knew who he was: the beloved Son of God, here to do his Father's will. In Matthew 3:17, Jesus hears the words “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” After that, with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus fasted 40 days and nights, facing the devil's temptations, and defeated every one. He began a ministry that included daily opportunities to heal, cast out demons and teach; often attacked, sometimes praised; but he never wavered in following the Father's will. Knowing who he was and to whom he belonged gave him the focus to respond properly in each situation, as well as telling him when he needed to take off by himself to re-charge his spiritual strength.

For example, Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” in Luke 20:2. He could have lashed out at them for daring to question him; instead, he calmly asked them a question that stopped them in their tracks. In John 5, 6, and 7, he has extended arguments with various groups, and continues to teach calmly and deliberately in spite of their growing hatred of him. Jesus operated every day out of a calm and deep conviction of who he was as the Son of God, and he knew "my Father who lives in me does his work through me" (John 14:10).

You and I, likewise, operate out of who we believe we are. If we believe we are merely broken and weak humans, shaped by our past and unable to leave it behind, that's how our lives will look. If we believe we are crippled by the wounds of our past, the hurtful words of others or the various ways we have sinned or just missed out over the years, then we'll never be unable to serve our Lord with lightness, joy and freedom. But what is most true of us?

Paul writes in Colossians 1, that Christ "holds all creation together" and "through him God reconciled everything to himself;" which means we are held up by Christ, and held close to the Father's heart by Christ -- there can be no more secure position in the universe!

Jesus said "I am in my Father and my Father is in me...and you are in me and I am in you" in John 14. We cannot possibly be closer to the Father than we already are in Christ! And when we keep that closeness foremost in our thoughts, we will be as Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven." (Col. 1;4-5).

These and many other scriptures, tell us the truth of who we are in Christ. It looks like this:
1. We can be confident in learning to hear the Father's voice through the Spirit's promptings, and follow his voice confidently knowing he will do his will through us.
2. We can operate in humility and grace, in a correct self-view, knowing all we have comes from God; and moving into opportunities to love others with the assurance that God will express his love through us.
3. We can drop our feeble attempts at self-defense and self-protection, and instead, be open to one another for giving and receiving the love of God in Christian fellowship.
4. We can open ourselves fully to God for his ongoing ministry of healing us from our sins, our weaknesses and our lack of faith.

All this is possible because of who Jesus is, and who we truly are in him. Let's rest in him!