From The Editor: I Am Who You Say I Am

It can be so easy to let what others say about us define who we are.

As humans, we like to put things in little boxes. That way, we can pick a box up, look at it from all sides, and know in our minds exactly what that thing is and how to interact with it. But that’s not how most things work; we just wish they did.

When a child displays behavioral issues, we say, “That kid has ADHD.” When someone has difficulties fitting in, we say, “They have social anxiety or autism.” We look at people and decide, whether consciously or not, that they are happy, or grumpy, or annoying, or shy. We label them in our minds and sometimes aloud in conversations with others. We do our best to define them and determine how they fit into our world.

While some of those definitions and diagnoses may be true, that is not all that person is. That is just one of the many facets that make up what is going on in their life right now. By trying to define someone this way, you’re limiting them to the here and now. You are saying, “What you’re doing, how you’re feeling, the difficulties you’re facing — all of that is all you are and all you will ever be.” That may not be our intention, but as limited beings, we struggle to hold onto future possibilities, instead keeping the picture as we see it now framed and hung in the galleries of our minds in perpetuity.

This doesn’t leave space for grace or growth. It doesn’t account for deeper truths. Holding a faulty picture of who someone is in our minds is unfair and unkind and untrue, as natural as it may be for us. That framed image is merely a snapshot, a moment in time. That is not who they are.

How does God see them? How does He view you? Who does He say you are?

He says you are intentionally crafted (Ephesians 2:10), wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), fully loved (John 3:16), and absolutely forgiven (Ephesians 1:7). You are His child (1 John 3:1), made for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10), precious (Isaiah 43:4), enough (2 Corinthians 3:5), and victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57). He claims you as His very own (Isaiah 43:1).

You attempt to put yourself in different boxes over and over again, try to varnish and frame your portrait for posterity, and every time God says, “This isn’t who you are. What you do and think and say are not who you are. What you choose and how you feel are not who you are.

“Your failure is not who you are. Your sin is not who you are.

“Your service and good deeds are not who you are. Your smiles are not who you are.

“Your actions are not who you are. Your thoughts are not who you are.

“You are mine. You are loved. I created you, and you are very, very good.”

No matter what we do, no matter the number of times we choose our own way, no matter how often we fail not only those around us but even ourselves, that is not who we are. We are who God says we are.

And He says we are very good.