John was atypical, everything about him was curious: his clothing, made of camel hair, before camel hair became a luxury product used by great couturiers; his food, grasshoppers and wild honey, gourmet, no; the place where he exercised his ministry, far from the city center, in the middle of the desert. Only the courageous can dare to be different. Sometimes in pursuing God's purpose for your life, you will stand out, you will seem strange to those around you. Worse still, some will get in your way to say to you 'Who are you?' 'What right do you have to do what you do?'
Atypical also by his attitude, At the height of his success, when all the great and the small were coming to be baptized, he didn't say, 'I have arrived,' no, he said I am not the great leader, I am only the messenger who goes before him; next to him, I am nothing. I am not even worthy to untie the strap of his sandals, he is the leader. Success is not 'killing the king' to become the king, it is not being number 1, it is being what I was shaped and created to be; it is doing what I am called to do and doing it with excellence.
The wisdom of John teaches us that we can only receive what has been given to us from heaven.
- What was given to you from heaven, what do you do with it?
- What are you holding in your hands that was not meant for you but that you hold on to because for you that is success?
- And when you have reached the height of what has been entrusted to you, keep in mind that there is only One to be glorified, and that is not you.
Who are you? Answering this question with clarity, lucidity, and humility is like John, ensuring that you accomplish what you exist for.
Since I gave my life to Christ, the Holy Spirit has changed me, I am no longer the same “old things have passed away”. And it is these old things that my friends use to accuse me and tell me who I am.
But I know that with Christ I am justified and it doesn't matter who I was yesterday because I was dead! Life is in Christ alone.
All who live without him are condemned for eternity.
Today I am adopted, I am a daughter of God and no matter the accusations I know who I am!!!
This article allows me to meditate at length on the person I am, what God (has) made of me...
I am, quite simply, what God says I am:
I will try to list the qualities that He finds in me and, as for humility, we will see… 🙂
God is not a man to lie!!! And He says a lot of things… To grasp!!!
I am His IMAGE. By my faith in Jesus and for having received Him, I am His child, born of Him John 1:12-14. An act of faith through which God makes me, what he made Jesus: THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, THE SALT OF THE EARTH Mat 5:13-14. By His crucifixion, Jesus constituted Himself “proof of love” of God. Moreover, He clothed me with His Spirit Galatians 3:27. It is by grace that I received it and by means of faith that I can affirm it…
And that's not all.
Through Jesus, God has made a covenant with me. He calls me 'FRIEND', 'APPLE OF HIS EYE'. It is even said that He COUNTS THE HAIR OF MY HEAD! His love for me is therefore limitless...And because He loves me, He wants to perfect the creature that I am. And the extraordinary thing is: no man is left behind before this love; that is why Jesus came; came to reveal the heart of God and to reconcile men with their God.
John the Baptist had this privilege, that of announcing this good news...We have all received this privilege, we who have faith in Jesus.
These last few days at Abba House, we are experiencing what John the Baptist experienced… We are shouting, not in the desert as JB did, but in the subways, that God is love; His kingdom is real, anyone who desires it and expresses the wish can enter it, and in what a way! In a way that will cause joy in heaven! Wow!
How can you not think outside the box after receiving such a revelation?
Soon at Abba House, we will be talking about "extravagant" people; who are amazed by their God and who, moreover, do not care much about "what people will say."
Our gratitude for having been called to work with God cannot be expressed only in words. The feeling of having been saved pushes us to act...and when we are told that we are doing too much, we will be reassured; like King David (the latter danced naked before the ark of the Lord and his wife Michal, daughter of Saul, despised him (for his lack of modesty?). By the way, it is not said in the story that this displeased God. Quite the contrary!); or like John the Baptist and many others who were called "mad" simply because they wanted to touch the heart of God.
God is our reference. He is no respecter of persons: He gives grace to those who desire Him (to the humble, those who recognize their need for Him). And God, in the face of the humble, does not act in any way according to their faults!
(We'll talk about humility another time 😉 )
Humility is recognizing the superiority of God's thought, even when it speaks well of us.
Thank you for this encouragement to be the one God created me to be. As the apostle Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained the prize or have already been made perfect, but I press on to grasp it” (Phil 3:11). It is true that sometimes we need to pause to remember what God created us for, or we risk drifting off course in wanting to gain human approval. What has God given me and what have I done with it so far? Let us redeem the time and use our talents. And if today were my last day on earth, what would my Father say? “It is good, but what I have against you is”?…..