It is just three days before Christmas in this year 2000 and to say it has been an eventful year would be a colossal understatement. Between the non-event of the Y2K bug and the hysteria of the recent election a world of things has transpired that has impacted our lives and will continue to do so even into the future. Of all these events, I think the election caught my attention the most and I have spent many hours reflecting on the events, as many of you have. Everyone involved with that event was concerned about power, image and status. Because of that reflection, I was reminded of a very special teaching I once heard.
Back a few years ago, when I was leading a men’s group, we had a guest speaker that gave us a discussion topic and presentation I will never forget. It really hit close to home and it really put the world in which we live into perspective for me and the other men who participated.
This speaker’s presentation asked this question of us men, “Where do we put our efforts? Do we focus on image or identity?” It was a powerful question. As he went on to discuss this question, I experienced one of those rare mind-opening revelations that can only come from the Holy Spirit.
Please let me challenge you with these same questions. When we work with image what are we working on? Here are some thoughts. With image we are concerned about;
· How we look to others.
· Our job status and position.
· The material goods we have.
· Personal and professional power over others.
· Status in the community.
With all of these items, we are concerned about what others are thinking or maybe even accurately, what we “think” they are thinking. A quick review of the list leaves the immediate impression that these things are very shallow and superficial.
On the other hand, when we focus on identity we are going to be concerned with;
· Who we really are.
· Being productive in our families and culture.
· What we can give to help others in need.
· Using position to serve others.
· Making a real difference for good in the lives of others.
In other words, our concern is for who we really are and how we can help others. It is the real us on the inside where we think no one sees. And yet God sees! He knows who we really are and His concern is not for image, but identity. These are just a few of the traits that we will exhibit depending on where our focus resides. I’m sure you can come up with even more items for each list. If image is most important, we will exhibit the first list of traits. If identity is our focus, we will exhibit the traits in the second list.
Let’s take a closer look at the items on these lists.
How we try to look to others is a form of pride, deceit and idolatry. False pride because some of our motives for looking good will be selfish. Deceit, because we are trying to cover what we perceive as our flaws. Idolatry, in that we begin to worship youth and health and all form of physical things above worshiping God. On the other hand God would have us look inside to who we really are. Do we set Him above all things, do we seek personal holiness in all facets of our life. Do we accept honesty and truth as the only options for our life. These are items of identity.
Seeking job status and positions of power can come from acting out selfish motives and more importantly it can indicate a lack of trust in God to provide. Yes, we are expected to be productive, but when we trust our own efforts above God’s provision then we are probably more concerned with image than identity. The Godly person however, will have the burning desire to be productive and provide for the needs of others to the best of their ability because that’s who they are and not because of what others think.
And the same is true for the other items listed. When we look to power, status, position, material possessions and our own selfish desires, we are going to be very concerned with image.
When we look to serve others and to be right with God our motives are more pure. None of us have perfect motives, but when we put our efforts and focus on who we are, we are going to strive to be what God wants us to be and we will not be concerned about image. In fact, the more we can concentrate on identity the more image will take care of itself. You see, our identity should reflect that we are the children of God because that’s who we are, but if we are so busy working on image that we obliterate our identity, then there will be no joy in any of our efforts and we will be superficial and phony.
So the question I think we all need to ask ourselves during this Christmas season and for the new year coming up is, “Will I be working on image this year or will it be identity that has my attention?”
God bless all of you. Thanks for being so kind with your comments and may this year be the best year ever for you. May you be the closest to God that you have ever been!