i am His

One of my favorite verses in the Bible has to be 1 John 3:1 which states, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"  It goes on with a few other things but I just want to take the time to focus on these relatively few words.  

First off, the word lavish isn't one we typically use, is it?  I was lavishing in the ocean the other day isn't something that is often uttered from our mouths.  When I think of lavish I think of completely engulfing something.  A pouring out and an abundance of something, in this case love being what has been poured out in abundance.

Often, I encourage others to find their identities in Christ.  As I was explaining to a friend tonight, though, it's often easier to encourage others to do that than to live it out myself.  Why is it so hard to find our identities in Christ?  In my opinion, I think it has something to do with the fact that we have so many things vying for our attention and that seem of utmost importance that we are likely to put our identity in them.

I think men especially are prone to find their identities in their jobs.  Make no mistake, preachers and missionaries are not immune to this.  What's the first thing a guy is likely to ask you?  So, what do you do?  Right?  Isn't that the basic conversation starter that we all fall back on?

In early September, I decided to resign from my post as an elementary teacher.  I'm hoping to move to Liberia in January and didn't want a new batch of 5 year olds to get too attached only to leave them halfway through the year.  Truth be known I didn't want to get too attached to them either.

What I have learned since is that I found a fair amount of my identity in that job.  People ask me now what do I do and I have to say I'm currently looking for a job while I wait and see if I get accepted into Samaritan's Purse in Liberia in January.  It's hard not to feel like a loser when I say that.  "What do you do?" "Oh, I'm currently unemployed."  I've never been unemployed before except by my parents' wish for when I was in college.  

There are several passages in Scripture though that tell us we are His.  We were bought at a price.  We are made in the image of our Creator.  He is reconciling all things to Himself.  There are so many beautiful promises in Sripture about how we are His and nothing can separate us from His love.