Am I looking for Myself

“I don’t know who I am any more” came from a woman desperately trying to find answers to her life and why she had become entangled in mess upon mess. It is the cry of many, often unexpressed and hidden behind smiling faces, busy schedules and loud singing of religious songs.

You would imagine that with all the self-help books on shelves, Website information for stressed out people, Jet setting lecture scene ‘self-awareness’ Gurus plus psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and religious groups no one would be ignorant of ‘who and what they are’. However it seems that the more such groups proliferate the more the confusion grows. Each can claim authority from being a ‘founding father or mother’ or from their  experiences. What seekers need to check out is the basis for their teaching and therefore the truth of such claims.  Short term remedies for life's big questions can lead to dead-ends or disillusionment. 

The unquestioning acceptance of evolution erodes the meaning of life. Promoted by mass media and vested interests the young especially are influenced by it. The results are depressing. No sense of destiny, no appreciation of the worth of another, a spiritual void and no answers to the moral mess and suffering in the world. Could this be an underlying gnawing in their heart which contributes to self-destructive addictions and behaviour? Another person left spouse and family with “I need to find myself.” That person never found herself.  To have any hope of understanding who you are, why you are, what can be done for you requires an authoritative manual. Within such a book directions for enjoying life and relationships must be listed. Also, when we fall-over there needs to be a promise of a new beginning. Fundamental to all this is to be shown the Creator’s purposes and to answer the ‘why’s’ of living in a messy world.

If evolution is the creator, there is no blueprint. That means there are no answers only superficial, short term pain removers for the confused, broken hearted and morally bereft. If there is the Creator who in the beginning set things in motion, then there is a Blueprint. Such a Creator would not leave His masterpiece (you) without insights as to who you are. The Creator’s Blueprint is revealed in the Bible. Its information is simple yet profound. Scripture has clear and concise directions to understand yourself and what the future holds.

No one, no matter how clever, can get inside of a person to see all the heart and mind’s complex ‘machinery’. That is God’s realm. What He has revealed about our inner being and the mess its gets into and the remedy for it, needs to be taken seriously. A careless attitude will continue a wasted life lived in the vanity of human speculation. The end result of that will be mess upon mess, broken dreams and a fear of standing before the Creator. Sure, it may mean that we need wise and Godly counsellors and other professional people to walk with us and be there for us in our journey. Yes it may mean that there will be the need for calling upon God to forgive us. It will mean working with Him as He begins to transform our views and lifestyle. Undoubtedly there will be tough decisions to make and accountabilities to undertake. However, when you know that the end result is worthwhile you are prepared to pay the price. For a ‘new you’ rises above the past with forgiveness known and hope for the future possessed.

The following testimony is dramatic. Our lives will probably not be of similar magnitude. However, as he says, if God can do it in my life, God can do it to anyone willing to trust Him.

“I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and violently arrogant but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.” (Paul to Timothy.) As Paul faced execution on Caesar Nero’s order for his faith in Jesus, Paul wrote ‘I know whom I have believed am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him against that day.’  When ‘that day’ came he could say “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me … but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

That’s knowing who you were, who you have become and where you are going. All because of God’s grace and His manual for life.

©Ray Hawkins Nov 9^th 2015.