When I started this blog i told myself that I would only write when I felt like it was something that needed to be said. Considering it's 3 AM the night before the last day of class, I think it's safe to say I felt this was necessary.
My small group is studying James and this past Sunday we read half of chapter 3. There was one verse in particular that my co leader and I were drawn to:
With it [the tongue]
we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. -James 3:9
I have been dealing a lot with identity lately. Partially because of social interactions and recent events in my life, but the fact that I am also writing two papers on identity might have something to do with it as well.
One thing that I keep reminding myself is to not let myself be defined by other people or other situations.
It is so easy to let a situation define who you are. Or let yourself be defined by your parents, your siblings, your friends.
Or to let yourself be defined by a definition someone makes of you that
just isn't true.
This is where many people would go on a rant on how we need to define ourselves and rely on our own view, but that is not what I want to say.
The only defining factor you should have in your life is God.
Because there is no other way you could possibly survive in a world that is broken, in a world where all of the people, including
you and
me are broken.
In a broken world, God is the only truth. Everyone else will fall short because
He is the only perfect One.
So then the question remains, what do we do when someone tries to define us as something we are not?
This is where the verse comes in.
No matter what, this person was made in the likeness of God, and so was I, and so were you.
This is a part of ourselves we cannot deny even though some try to cover it with other solutions to fill the void in their life that can only be filled by God.
Getting upset will only make things worse because if we, if I, fall into this temptation to backfire then I am forgetting that this person was made in the likeness of God not matter what they have done.
A unity can be found in this bond stronger than any other relationship we can possible imagine. This is why this verse is so important.
Another thing I learned this summer that I seem to keep forgetting is that for it to built up things have to break first.
Salvation comes out of the brokenness we all face, it is just a matter of getting through it and facing the situation knowing that every other person we encounter is made in the likeness of God.
Hopefully enough of this made sense considering I was falling asleep for the last part, but it felt like something that needed to be said.
