WHO Makes—YOU—YOU & WHO Makes—ME—ME?
What makes YOU—YOU? That was the essay prompt that I wrote across the blackboard (yes, that’s right, the “blackboard”). In 1995, my full-time teaching career began, and in my first classroom hung a blackboard, and as I seem to be marching toward the end of my career of teaching, maybe it’s fitting that I end my time writing words on a surface where I first began so many years ago.
Identity—WHO makes YOU—YOU?
Most definitely, the word “identity” brings a connotation that many may run from during this 21st Century, but it is also true that we each have one—an identity. We are each a person, created by God’s design, with a unique DNA, and designed with the innate desire to know our Creator. As I have spoken with students about this next essay, answered their questions, I found myself recalling a conversation I shared through Zoom. “I want to write about my faith,” she said. “I want to know what I believe, not what my grandma and my heritage tells me to believe. I was raised Spanish Catholic, but I am finding that I don’t believe that way. I want to find the truth of what I believe.”
I sat there, on my side of the screen, fully thanking God for this moment. Then after a pregnant pause, I replied, “You know, what you are seeking, what you are speaking is far greater than this essay, or any essay, or any university degree. Who you are seeking is God.”
Identity—WHO makes YOU—YOU?
Not our Heritage. Not our Family Traditions. Not our Family Name. Not our Culture & Customs. But, Our Faith in God, our Identity—WHO makes YOU—YOU?
As this week has unfolded, I have studied many passages about distractions and the “noise” of this world where we must live, and the conclusion has been the same each day as I have studied—We need alone time with God. Daily. Moment-by-Moment. Even a second, a single breath, one where we breathe in and then out, we speak YHWH.
“God, I draw you into my being; come into me. God, I release Your goodness for others to see; allow me to be a disciple of You.”
WHO makes—YOU—YOU?
The book of Jeremiah from the Bible records words that reveal our deep desire to know God. SEE THE WORD OF GOD WITH ME.
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard, saying,
“Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name,
“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
(Jeremiah 33: 1-3)
Did we see the words. Let’s read them again. Yes, go back. See with me these five important truths.
The word of the LORD came while Jeremiah was still caught, still confined. The Bible tells us in Romans 5: 6-8 that the Savior seeks us while we are still caught, still trapped in our lostness, in our sins. Even while we are still helpless, still sinners—God demonstrates His love toward us—“Christ died for us.”
The LORD, the One who created the earth, formed it, and established it. HE is the one who came to Jeremiah, and He comes to us too. The Bible tells us in John 1: 1-5 that life is in Him. Jesus was there with God at the beginning of time (Jesus), and that HE shines in the darkness (Jesus does). In the dark recesses of our hearts, Jesus shines inside, revealing how the darkness, how our sinful state cannot comprehend God without the presence of “the Light of men”—JESUS.
The LORD is the One who accomplished all this, who spoke, who made, who formed, and who established—EVERYTHING—and it is the LORD who calls out to us as we search for our identity. The Bible speaks to us in Psalm 139: 1-6 that the LORD searches for us, knows us so well that HE knows when we sit and when we stand up. It is God who understands our thoughts, who is “intimately acquainted with all my ways” (all our ways). God was there, with us, inside the womb; God formed our being; God encloses us, on all sides; and God who places His hand upon us. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; . . .”
God has a name. “the LORD is His name, . . .” God is Incarnate: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God knows what it feels like to be angry, sad, hungry, upset, and weary. It is God who desires a relationship with us. God does!
There are some “great and mighty things,” that we just don’t yet know, but we are told in Jeremiah how when we call out to God, HE will answer.
What makes—YOU—YOU?
What makes—ME—ME?
IT IS GOD WHO MAKES US—US!
Amazingly, God places within us a hunger to know HIM!
“Every person has spiritual hunger that can only be satisfied by Jesus” (Open Windows)
We need to hear from God. We need the answer only God can supply. It is us who must decide the answer to the other question: Do we want to hear Him?
Let us seek God, really search for Him.
Let us give Him all the space He desires.
Let us be quiet, turn off the noise, and let us hear God.
Let us open His Word, let us listen for Him to speak, and let us recognize the voice of God.
Let us seek to declutter our lives.
Let us hear the whisper, the gently knocking of God, as he seeks to come into our whole being.
“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
(Jeremiah 33: 3)