Who? Where? What? When?

Who am I? Where am I going? What is my purpose? When will I ever figure it out? Do you ever ask yourself these questions? If so you are not alone. I think that at some point, if not many points in our life,especially the New Year, we all ask ourselves these questions. Maybe part of the problem is that we are not asking the right person. Maybe instead of asking ourselves, we need to focus more on God's answers to those questions.

Who am I? Oh, I can tell you my name, who my parents are, and even my worst qualities... but does that really define who I am? I'm learning more and more to look for the answers in the best guide book ever written. So, let's see what God's answer is to this question and the others as well.

Who am I?
If you have accepted Christ in your life, this is easily defined. I John 3:1 says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

The best way to know who you are, is to know who you are in Christ. We are nothing without Him, but with Him, we are children of the Creator of the World! We are brothers to the Prince of Peace. We are heirs of the Kingdom of God. We are made perfect by the blood of Jesus! For anyone, especially those who like to mingle with the "who's who" in life... what better connections can you have?

Quit defining yourself by all you ARE NOT and start claiming all YOU ARE! A CHILD OF GOD... if God is for us, who can be against us?

Where am I going?
This is a question that I find myself asking quite a bit lately. Honestly, I think we all tend to know some kind of direction in where we are going, and even the ways God is directing us in. I think the bigger question seems to be, "How do I get there?"

I was actually looking up Proverbs 3:5-6, and saw verse 7 as well. I am going to quote The Message version, because I LOVE how it puts verse 7.

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen to God's voice in EVERYTHING you do, EVERYWHERE you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. RUN TO GOD! Run from evil!"

Run to God! Run from evil! That sounds simple enough! Why do we make it so complicated? If we will just start to listen, God will keep us on track. If you see evil, turn around. If you see good, if you see God... RUN TO IT! Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the destination (and I mean being or doing something) that we forget to put our best effort into the journey.

What is my purpose?
In a world full of being defined by your career, stereotypes, and job descriptions for EVERYTHING, we tend to feel like we need to know every detail about everything in life, including our purpose.

In all honesty, scripture tells us that we will never understand the totality of God. He is too big for that. He's so big that sometimes He doesn't reveal all the details of our future which tends to make us feel like we don't know what our purpose is. Our purpose is to love God and worship Him. Why do we make it so difficult? Yes, God has a plan to use each of us as He sees fit. But God can use us whether we realize all the details or not. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we are doing "right" or "wrong" we act like God's purposes depend on us. God will fulfill His purposes with or without us. It is all about Him and our purpose is all about Him.

Will I ever figure it all out?
Simply put...NO. Not until we make it to heaven. There is no way for us to figure EVERYTHING out. But, God in His mercy gently teaches us and reveals what we need to know WHEN we need to know it.

So what's my point? As wonderful as it is to make New Year's resolutions and resolve to find your ultimate goals and purposes, don't forget to God be just that...let Him be God of your life and let Him gently guide you into His purposes. Sometimes we just get so wrapped up in the END PRODUCT that we forget so much of the purpose is the actual journey.

As you approach this year with your resolutions, remember not to focus so hard on the end result, but take time to enjoy and learn from the journey. You see... that IS your purpose: THE JOURNEY!