Who You Were Made To Be // Going DeeperSample

The Trappings of Identity

You have been told you are who you are by what you say; what you do; what you have; what material things you possess. It is difficult to not care about possessing the things of this world—when you have little, and when you have much. Material things can make you feel safe, established. They can make you feel qualified, seen. They can make you feel valuable, important.

What you possess of this world, though, is so much less important than the things you possess that can’t be quantified—or qualified—by it. It is what I give you that matters. It is My love for you that is the truest thing about you. You don’t want to be measured by the world’s measuring stick anyway, do you?

You are thinking this is easy for Me to say—a Son, a King, the I Am who created all things. All I have is available to Me, right? So because I have everything, it is easy for Me to discount what you don’t. Do I even understand, you wonder, how hard it is to not care about material possessions? After all, it is how the world measures worth—your place of residence, the neighborhood in which you live, the vehicle you use or own to get around, the clothes you wear, the work you do. All of these things, these choices, these circumstances, affect how you think of yourself, in this world. They affect how others think of you, too.

The problem is, this world is finite—and all the possessions you chase down to give you worth are finite too. They wear out; they break. But your true identity is not finite. It is not measured by the trappings of this world. It is not measured by what you wear, or what you drive, or what you look like or what you have. It is measured by My love. And how can you measure My love for you?

Don’t forget your heart. Don’t forget Me.

All I have I give to you. And there is nothing you need that I hold back. All is available to you. All the wealth of My kingdom. All the gifts of a life that is full rather than filled with things, with accomplishments the world says are important but are not. For, actually these things will be burned away at the end of the world, one day. But how to not care about the things of this world while living in this world, you wonder. It is very hard, I know. For the trappings of this world are equated with happiness, worth, success. And how can you not want these things? How can you not care about being happy? Don’t you need things to feel this way?

Your identity can be shaped by many things: your ideas, your choices in how you spend your time, your material possessions—what you own and what you don’t own. And these things can be devices, things the enemy uses to influence how you feel about yourself—how you quantify and qualify your worth, and other people’s worth, too. I am not saying material possessions are bad. I am saying that they don’t define who you are. And they can distract you from caring about what actually matters—your heart, how you love people, how you are kind, how you are gentle, how you worship and pursue Me.

So pay attention to your heart now. Notice what occupies your mind. Let Me help you not be distracted by the trappings of this world. Because they are not your true identity, They are not your worth. And they only have power over you if you let them.

Exercise:

Imagine a child getting ready before school. Imagine it’s cold outside—cold and windy and raining. Now imagine that, before she heads off for the day, the girl’s parents give her a brand new jacket. And when she goes outside, she feels warm in it. It’s comfortable, she feels safe in it. Immediately, she loves that jacket.

But imagine that the girl begins to wear it everywhere, all the time—even when the seasons change and the months grow warmer. She wears it because the jacket comes to represent goodness and security, and she looks to it for those things, rather than to her parents. Imagine that she begins to lose sight of the fact that the jacket was just a material thing provided in season and that what truly keeps her safe and secure is a relationship with two loving parents—who provide for her every need in thousands of ways, some seen, many unseen.

Holy Spirit says, “Your identity can be shaped by many things: your ideas, your choices in how you spend your time, your material possessions—what you own and what you don’t own. And these things can be devices, used by the enemy to influence how you feel about yourself—how you quantify and qualify your worth, and other people’s worth, too. I am not saying material possessions are bad. I am saying that they don’t define who you are. And they can distract you from caring about what actually matters—your heart, how you love people, how you are kind, how you are gentle, how you worship and pursue Me.”

The mysterious and cool character of Tom Bombadil in J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterwork The Lord of the Rings offers us a fascinating literary picture of someone in right relationship with material things. In Tom Bombadil, Tolkien created someone who appreciates material things but does not fixate upon them. He enjoys the material world, but does not strive to possess it and control it—and, because of that, he is free to delight in material things, but cannot be controlled by them.

Early in the first book in the trilogy, the main character, Frodo, asks Tom’s wife, Golderry, “Who is Tom Bombadil?”

“He is the Master of wood, water, and hill,” she replies.

“Then all this strange land belongs to him?” Frodo asks.

“No, indeed!” she replies.

According to Tolkien’s letters, which go a bit further in explaining this fascinating character, Tom Bombadil is an intentional enigma. Tony Reinke, a senior writer for the Desiring God organization, puts it this way, “Tom represents a soul that has been freed from the greed of possession in order to delight in created beauty.”

It’s crazy. It’s upside-down. Tom loosens his grip on material things in order to enjoy them more—in order to share in them more deeply and in order to deepen his delight in them. He exchanges his lust and his need to consume . . . for freedom and joy and surprise.

And he represents what is available to each of us: to be able to delight, not in possessing and controlling and consuming material things, but rather, in appreciating and enjoying and savoring the good gifts God gives us, freely and consistently and unpredictably. Tom Bombadil demonstrates that freedom and joy that is available to each of us, if we want it.

I want it. I want to be like Tom Bombadil—my heart wide awake to God’s gifts all around me, large and small, in every moment. I want to learn to be able to see and know and trust the Giver, rather than just trusting His gifts. I want to learn to be able to see and know and trust the Creator, rather than to become fixated on collecting and accumulating more and more of His created things.

Listen to Jesus’ warning in the book of Luke: “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.” That’s Luke chapter 12, verse 15.

In what ways is your heart caught up in worrying about material things? In what ways is your heart caught up in your goals for accumulating enough money or securing the right house in the right neighborhood?

How is God inviting you to see, with His eyes, and to enjoy, with His heart, all the gifts He gives you all the time, all around you, even now?

Father, help me to pay attention. Help me learn to call myself to attention. Help me begin to notice what occupies my mind—and release it, if I need to. Help me to begin to notice what You’re doing in my life and in my days—how You are caring for me, how You are blessing me, the gifts You give, large and small. Help me to become less distracted by the trappings of this world.

Show me how a lust for material things fills my heart. And help me root it out. And then fill my heart with love.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.