The Increase All-Star DevotionalSample

ANDREW McCUTCHEN

WHAT DEFINES YOU?

What defines you? At the end of the day, what events and people are speaking into your identity as a man or a woman? That’s such an important question to ask, but it’s one we’d rather not answer fully or completely. We may not really want to hear our answer.

We all listen to outside voices to help define us. That’s a normal thing for people to do, and I think God created us for someone or something on the outside to define us on the inside.

For years, I allowed baseball to define me. At the core, I was a baseball player. If I performed well, then I felt good about myself. But if I performed poorly, then I felt terrible about myself.

But when you read the New Testament, you discover that those guys had a completely different understanding of a person’s true identity. It’s like they lived from a different set of assumptions than many of us do. Here’s what John writes…

1 JOHN 3:1

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!...

I love that. We’re not only called “children of God”, but we ARE children of God. It goes beyond a name, and into an identity that will never leave us. It’s what we are.

And notice how he talks about sin issues only AFTER he’s firmly reminded us of our standing as children of God. I think that’s the only real way to deal with any sin in our lives - to make it a response as a child of God.

So for me, I dropped to my knees in 2013, and told God that I would no longer allow baseball to define me. Instead, I’d begin to allow Him to define me, to direct me, and to guide me in the way everlasting. And it’s been quite a ride since then!

I invite you to hear me tell this story (and more) on The Increase website. I owe God every success I’ve had, but I no longer allow myself to be defined by those successes. So I ask you…

What defines you?