Have you ever heard a story or watched a movie about someone who has amnesia for an extended period of time and cannot remember who they are? I always think of how haunting that would be to not know who you are. But the reality is that I think that we as Christians are often guilty of having amnesia. Check out this video that illustrates my point.
"Remind me who I am" Video
This video reminds of the "homeless" man I passed today. His sign said "Disabled." My heart hurt for him because whether or not that was true for him physically it was true for him emotionally. I have spoken with this man before trying to offer him food, a copy of the gospel and ultimately hope. When I spoke with him I saw a desperation for something more than his current situation.
I think we all can be guilty of accepting labels that don't belong to us, "Unloved," "Hopeless," and "Worthless." Many times these labels are because of things that have happened to us in the past. Unfortunately, we can often times think that even God doesn't care. As Andy Stanley says, "Don't confuse the difficulty of life with the character of God."
Because of these labels that we have accepted over our lives we may be tempted to think that we have to try harder to get God's attention. Maybe we need to go to church more often, read the Bible more frequently or Pray harder and louder. It is fascinating to me that this issue is as old as time.
The religious leaders of Jesus' day were arguing with him as to why he and his disciples didn't follow their religious rules. I love Jesus' response to them, "It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."
The reason we carry around labels such as "Unloved, Hopeless and Worthless" have very little to do with the words other people have spoken over us but the words we have spoken over ourselves. If we think that we need to try harder to get God to hear us because of our labels we have a distorted view of God. Once again as Andy Stanley says, "God doesn't want something from you but something for you."
Jesus re-emphasizes his point by saying again, "But the words you speak come from the heart--that's what defiles you." Why speak lies over your life such as, "Unloved, Hopeless and Worthless?" How about speaking the words that God has already said about you such as, "Fearfully and wonderfully made" and "someone with a hope and a future."
I think it is time to be reminded of who we really are as a child of God. He says that his thoughts about you outnumber the grains of sand. He says that he has your name tattooed on the palm of his hand. You, I, and every other human being have great value because God gives us that value.
