UNCOMMEN: Reclaiming Your Identity As A ManSample

Who You Are and Whose You Are

Yesterday we talked about a false identity and how we often find it easy to outsource our self-worth to things that don’t help us. Today we want to talk about where we came from. I have a five-year-old son who is bright eyed and ever so curious about the world around him. He is always asking me endless questions about how things work, where this road we are driving will take us, how many minutes until we get there... You get the picture.

Sometimes I get annoyed by it all and just want some peace and quiet. But I am careful not to kill that curiosity in him. Here’s why: It is our curiosity to know where we came from as men, that will give us a roadmap to who we are, and why we are the way we are. Every day before my son goes off to school, I grab him by both shoulders, kneel down and tell him “You are my son. I am proud of you. You are dearly loved by your mother and me. You are a Casey. Now go out there and do your best.” He always smiles and wriggles out of my arms. But I believe with all of my heart that my son needs to hear his identity every day as a young boy. It becomes part of how he thinks about himself. Because as he leaves preschool and steps out further, the world will offer him an opposing view about who he is, and who he belongs to.

For many of us, that can be a painful journey as we learn about our fathers, or maybe even fathers we did not know. Maybe our father was present every day physically in the home but not there emotionally or spiritually for us. As I look in the mirror in the mornings and look at my kids over a bowl of cereal, maybe I’m that father.

When we are born, we have earthly parents. But even more divine, we begin a spiritual journey as well with God. God begins to pursue our hearts, and tell us who we are through dependence first on our mothers for nourishment, and also on our fathers for provision as well in other ways as we grow. We learn through our surroundings about who God is without even knowing it.

God says in His word that we are his children, we have a birthright, heir to the inheritance, and that He is our Father. Let’s all meditate on what that means today, rather than saying what we typically think of ourselves.

Read these verses over and over today. Post them on your bathroom mirror, in your car, or on your wall in your office. Say them day in and day out until you believe and know them in your head and your heart. Watch what God will do when you know your identity in Christ as a Child of God, and Heir to the Throne.