This past Sunday at church, I was sitting there thinking about all of the things I had to do this week. One of the things on my list of random tasks was to come up with the article that I was going to write for Odyssey this week. Sometimes, ideas come to me quickly, and other times it takes a while for me to come up with something that I feel would be worthwhile to write about. This was one of those weeks where I was sitting there thinking to myself, I have absolutely no idea what to write about this week.
I decided that I would put off thinking about what I would write about (and the million other things on my list) until after church was over. I needed one hour just to focus on church and why I was there. We stood up to start the worship part of the service, and sang some good worship songs that I hadn't heard in a while. Then, I heard the familiar chords of a song that quickly became one of my favorites the first time I heard it, many months ago. We sang a song that you may have heard before on the radio, or you may have even sung it in church as well. As soon as I heard the chorus of this song, I knew exactly what I was going to write about this week. It's crazy how things like that happen.
The song is called "Good Good Father." You can listen to the whole song HERE, but these are the lyrics that really stood out to me:
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am
I just stood there thinking about those words and what they meant.
In our world today, we are told so often who we should be.
We are told that we are defined by where we go to college.
We are told that we are defined by where we live.
We are told that we are defined by what our occupations are.
We are told that we are defined by the size jeans that we wear or how much we weigh.
We are told that we are defined by how attractive we are.
We are told that we are defined by how much money we have.
A question that we ask ourselves and even get asked so often is "Who am I?" or "Who are you?"
Think for a minute about how you answer this question. Do you answer it with your name? Do you answer it with what job you have? Do you answer it with what year you are in school and what you are majoring in? Do you strive for the answer to that question to be something based on your appearance or weight? Or do you answer this defining question about your identity with what it really should be answered with?
Here's the thing. Your identity in things of this world really doesn't matter. What truly matters is your identity in Christ.
So the line of the song that says, "And I'm loved by you, It's who I am," should influence our lives a lot more than it does.
We are loved. We are loved so so so much by the Creator of the entire world and everything in it. We are loved by the Creator of the moon and stars and oceans and trees and mountains and sunflowers and waterfalls and rainbows and seashells and puppies and ladybugs and butterflies...you get the point. The Creator of everything.
God created everything, including us. He loves us so deeply that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to come live a perfect life and then be punished on the cross for our brokenness. Jesus got what we deserved so that we could get the best gift ever. That's love. Real, sacrificial love.
So next time you ask yourself who you are or someone asks you who you are, just remember that before anything else, you are loved. Even in your darkest moments, your loneliest moments, when you feel like you are the biggest screw up in the world and are unworthy of love, you are still loved. Never forget that. Once you grasp that idea that you are loved not because of what you do or what you look like, but simply because you are you, your life will be radically changed for the better.
