As you looked in the mirror this morning, who did you see?
Every now and then I stumble across a book that gets my attention. I found one recently in Mark Driscoll’s Who Do You Think You Are?
I’ve only just started it but it’s already got me thinking. Driscoll, in his clear and forthright style pulls no punches when he says things like…
‘You aren’t what’s been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren’t what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do.’
This book is all about being secure in who you are. It’s all about your identity. When we’re secure in that, then we can live life well, not – as Ephesians 4:14 puts it – ‘tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind’ of current opinion or recent trend. Knowing who you are is crucial. That’s why the Father affirms Jesus in his identity before he does anything significant (Luke 3:22 – see my blog The Gracious Voice of the Father). That’s why, if we’re about seeing kingdom transformation in lives and communities and regions, then we need to know who we are. And we discover who we truly are by coming to the One who embodies the truth and wants to speaks the truth deep into our lives – Jesus Christ.
So Driscoll is right when he says: ‘Who you recognise when you look in a mirror in the morning means everything for the way you walk through the rest of the day.’
Do you know who you are?
Discipleship Blog 
Hi Matthew just stumbled on an interview with Ali Gilkeson from Rend Collective Experiment on You Tube this morning. She echoes what you have posted, by telling how she was bullied at school and how girls in particular view eachother.
Thank you for this Matthew. Discovering who I am was one of the greatest moments of my life. It changed my whole outlook and set me free.
For years as I was stuck in a vicious cycle of getting drunk followed by the inevitable remorse and guilt. I wallowed in self-pity, frustration, guilt, shame, paranoia, fear, terror, bewilderment and despair. I believed the lie that I was a Hopeless, incurable Alcoholic.
By the time I was in my mid 50’s I said to myself “I have been this way for almost 40 years, it’s hopeless I am never going to change.”
I had life problems not just an addiction to alcohol. My problems were physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
I used to believe I was different, which is another misbelief of hopelessness. As my problems overwhelmed me my desperation increased, When I had finally suffered enough pain and admitted my weakness, my powerlessness, God in His mercy and Grace displayed how when we are weak that He is strong. In my weakness His strength was perfected. He did for me what I could not do for myself.
I now wanted to survive and change everything about my life. When Jesus heard my cry and set me free from the bondage that I had been in all my life, I began to understand about the importance of knowing who I am. We are not defined by our weakness but by who we are. “I am a child of God”. The world told me I was an alcoholic, Jesus tells me I am an Overcomer because he overcame the world. The world says I suffered with a disease, the Bible says it is sin. “ When he died, he died once to break the power of sin” (Romans 6:10) The day I understood that I wasn’t fighting for victory, but coming from victory, it changed my life. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor.15:57).
The world tells us that if we change our behaviours, we will be able to change as a person. Only God can change a person. When we understand our identity in Jesus, it is the knowledge of who we are that changes how we behave. As we change our beliefs, it will change our behaviour. The truth is we are in Christ, dead to sin, freed from it, alive in God, victorious and righteous in Him. When we believe these truths, our behaviours will change. If Christ is in me and I in Him, what more could I possibly need?
I started to see that I wasn’t a victim: “We are more than conquerors’ Romans 8:37
My beliefs determine the difference between victory and defeat, – the lies of the Devil or the truth of God.
I am learning that it is the “truth that sets you free”. I learned that the truth is not a thing, but it is the person of Jesus. I discovered freedom in Christ after putting my faith totally in what Jesus had accomplished by the finished work He did on the Cross.
I surrendered my life and will to Jesus. I put my trust in Him alone. Having Freedom in Christ means that I can put my complete trust in God that he will meet my most critical and personal needs. There are many programmes of the world that enable people to get sober. However they do not save people, nor can they set people free- only Jesus can do that. Jesus has a one step program. “We step out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Amen!!
The Bible is my source of God’s truth and promises. He is faithful, he is good, and His love endures forever.
So to answer your question… I used to look in the mirror and see a hung-over, hopeless man who had lost himself. I know look in the mirror and see a Son of God, with a purpose, a destiny and an inheritance ALL because of the loving God who rescues and whose mercy and grace is sufficient for ALL.
Thought you’d like this x
Sent from my iPhone
On 14 Sep 2013, at 07:29, Matthew Porter wrote:
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