“I be who I be, and I do what I do because of who I am in Christ.” – Jennifer Cumberbatch
The more I work and the more I live, the more I realize how I need to be rooted in Christ. He gives me identity. He makes me who I am; in fact, he made me to be exactly who I am.
He gave me certain strengths and gifts. I get things done. I also dream. I am the sort of person who comes up with ideas and executes on them, because where’s the fun in dreaming without doing?
How quickly I forget, though. I forget who I “be,” as Jennifer Cumberbatch says. I get caught up in what I do. It becomes my identity. I exchange Jesus for a lesser thing.
I then wonder why I’m frustrated, worried, and burnt out. Where did I go wrong? Oh. Oh. I see. I am not resting in who I am in Christ; I’m trying to figure things out on my own; I think I can handle everything.
I can’t. Everything falls apart when I lose the one who keeps me steady. Again and again I have to remind myself of who I am, of whose I am.
It’s only then that I become who I’m meant to be and do what I’m meant to do. No, I become and do more than that. I become who God means to be, and who he means me to be is always far more than I can ever think or imagine. I become whole, able to will and to work for God’s good pleasure because he is at work in me, animating me, keeping things together.