Learning who we are

LEARNING WHO WE ARE

Mt. 16:13-20

How many of us like ourselves as we are?  We all know things about ourselves we don't like.  We often see qualities in other people that we admire and even envy.  But we will never be anyone other than ourselves. 

The fact that we do not like certain things about ourselves can be a healthy attitude, especially if we can better ourselves morally.  It can be a useful thing that we admire certain good qualities in the lives of other people and try to emulate them.  We should try to be ourselves – and be the best person that we can be.

Jesus said to Peter, "You are a rock."  Yet we know he was impetuous, temperamental and hot-headed!  Anyone else addressing Peter might have called him almost anything but a rock.  But Jesus looked deeper, saw more, and that he was as solid as a rock, steady as a rock and firm as a rock.

That is how Jesus always dealt with people.  He never tried to make them something they were not.  Instead, He tried to show them who they really were and then help them to become that.  He never gave them the impression that He was importing qualities from the outside into anyone.  His mission was to discover, reveal and help to develop possibilities that were already there.

That should encourage us.  The worst thing we can do is to try to make someone become what they could never be.  How discouraging would it have been if Jesus had told Peter he ought to be a rock?  With that approach, there is every possibility that Peter might never have become the man he was meant to be.  He may have gone through life reproaching himself for what he was and dreaming wistfully of what he would like to be.

What a tragic mistake that would have been.  Yet, that is what we do to ourselves.  A secret conference with ourselves might sound like this: 'You're weak, you ought to be strong.  Shame on you.  In a world that demands strength of character, you're a pathetic weakling.  You were born that way and you will probably always remain that way.'

Such thinking only discourages us.  If we would allow Our Lord to participate in that conference, He would turn it completely around.  He would say to us, 'You are strong.  Buried within you are qualities of character, undiscovered and undeveloped.  Come let us join together in a venture of discovery and development.  The real you is a strong person and there is no reason why you should limp through life as if you were a helpless weakling.'

What a tremendous difference that would make, if only we would allow the Lord to sit with us at the conference table and listen to His appraisal instead of our own.  Our mission in life is to learn who we are and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to be that person.

The question we all have to ask is, 'Who is the real me?'  We must be careful with our answers because a lot depends on it.  If we had put that same question to Peter, there were days when he would have said he was impetuous, a fool, weak, a coward.  And he certainly seemed to be all of those things.  But Jesus had the right answer, "You are a rock."  Somehow that appraisal took hold of Peter's heart and did not let go until he became the man he really was, the man whom the world has admired for almost 2,000 years.

Who is the real you?  Who is the real me?  Let us not answer that question until we have spent some time with the One who knows us best and believes in us the most - Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  He will help us to discover who we really are.

Lord Jesus, help us to discover our real selves.  Once we have then we may be able to see more clearly where we are going and so have a greater impact on the lives of people we meet.  If our impact on people is minimal, could it be that we have not discovered our real selves and are not using our potential to the full? 

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