DISCUSSION:
On one occasion when Paul was preaching
the gospel in the city of Ephesus, a certain group of vagabonds sought to
emulate Paul by taking it upon themselves to cast out a demon. When these men
sought to do such, the evil spirit turned on them and said, “Jesus I know, and
Paul I know; but who are you?” ( Acts
19:15 ).
“Who are you?” This is such a simple
question, yet profound at the same time. In its most simple form, we usually
answer that we are such and such who works here and lives there. For most, that
is the extent to which they desire to know who we are; but are we personally
satisfied with knowing ourselves in such a superficial manner? I hope not.
There is so much more that we ought to know about ourselves than what our name
is and where we work.
“Who are you?” When we seek to answer this
question in a deeper way, we may start examining some of the relationships that
we have and looking at ourselves in light of those relationships. “I am a
husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, uncle,
aunt, cousin, in-law” and on the list could go. We may even start to enumerate
the relationships we have outside of our family. “I am a boss, employee,
teacher, carpenter, engineer, preacher, chef, administrator, assistant,” and
etc. Yet even at this level, we are still just scratching the surface as to who
we are.
“Who are you?” Let’s plunge even deeper to
find the answer to this question. We may, in answer to this question, start to
discuss some of our character traits, whether good or bad. “I am honest,
dependable, hardworking, kind, generous, truthful, loving, clean, sober,
helpful” and etc. Others may look at us though and have a different way of
describing us. They may say, “He is deceitful, untrustworthy, lazy, mean,
hateful, stingy, dirty, selfish” and etc. The kind of list we make depends upon
the kind of life that we live and the kind of life that we live depends upon
the beliefs that we have. But still, while we are getting deeper into this
question, there is yet more.
“Who are you?” When we strip away all that
we think of ourselves and that everyone else thinks of us, there is only one
answer with which we are left. “I am the creation of God.” The Bible teaches
that man is made in the image of God ( Genesis
1:27 ). This means that he is a unique and
special creation out of all of God.
Prayer Requests: ____________________________________________________________________