Identity...

I had to lead the teacher devotion yesterday. We have devotions every day before school. How cool is that? It gives us an opportunity to pray for each other and our students before the day starts. Not many schools have such a great privilege. So, I was a little nervous. I can handle speaking in front of my students, but fellow teachers isn't quite as easy :).

I shared about identity and who we are in Christ. So many things are battling to define us. Some are gifts the Lord has given us, like our athletic ability, our good looks, our smarts, our social status, our jobs, maybe even our wealth. Many times our usefulness defines us.  The broken pieces of our lives, our past, and our failures often define us also.  So, who am I, when all is stripped away?

I am a saint! Have you ever wondered what that word really means? During a time in my life, when I was walking through one of the deepest, darkest valleys I have ever known, a person (I don't remember his name, and he probably doesn't remember mine) walked up to me after a church service and said, "Do you know what a saint is?". I said, "no", and he said, "One who is chosen by God." He just looked at me, smiled, and walked away. Do you ever have those moments when someone unknowingly encourages you. It's so awesome, because you know it's from God. This man knew nothing about my life, but that one sentence pierced my heart. I needed to be reminded that I was still a child of the King, despite my sin and the way I had walked away from the Lord. I am a child of God, a saint, one who belongs to the Lord, and only because He has saved me!

We are not saints by the great works we do. Oswald Chambers says, "The tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their grand appeal. If you make usefulness that test, than Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord heeds in a man's life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons to glory". I do not have the power to bring anyone to salvation. I am only a simple saint, who has been rescued from darkness to do great works, by the power of God in me!

As saints, we belong to God! Our relationship is not based on what we do for God, how we fail Him, or who the world says we are.  Dear friends, we are children of the King and nothing can change that!  My service and usefulness will not increase my worth to God and my failures will not decrease God's love for me.  His love has no end!