Crosswalk.com--The Devotional

[Judy Harder]

Who Determines Your Identity?
by Kelly Givens, Editor, iBelieve.com

Last year, in between jobs, I worked as a temporary administrative assistant at a financial planning firm... during tax season. It was as challenging as you might imagine. I had no experience in taxes but suddenly found myself surrounded by tax forms, calculators and clients who expected me to have the answers to all of their tax issues. I might as well have been in a foreign country trying to communicate in a language I barely understood.

I started with grand ambitions: I told myself that I would learn all about taxes; I took an incredibly challenging online tax course, learned a ton about deductions and exemptions, and strove to be cheerful and helpful to my colleagues and our clients. Things were going great - I was exhausted but felt helpful, felt like my boss appreciated me and thought my coworkers were glad to have me around. Until the worst imaginable thing happened.

A customer claimed to have dropped off his taxes to be done, but his paperwork was nowhere to be found. All of the most important documents he owned and had trusted to us had somehow vanished. Worst of all, I had been the person handling the coming and going of most of the client’s paperwork the day it went missing, so the blame fell on me.

I was nauseous with anxiety. I felt the cold condemnation of my coworkers as they repeatedly asked me what I had done with this man’s documents. All I could say over and over was, "I don’t know. I don’t remember taking his paperwork. I am so sorry." I listened as they whispered accusations behind my back. I felt them watching me like a hawk, seeing if I would make any more careless mistakes. Worst of all, my boss was totally stressed out and I felt the weight of everything on me.

I went home that night and cried my eyes out. I prayed fervently that God would somehow miraculously make the documents appear. I prayed for the strength I needed to face work the next day. I truly felt as David did in Psalm 55 when he prayed,

Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
Oh, that I had wings of a dove!
I would flee far away and stay in the desert.

All I wanted was to run away and never face my coworkers again. And I couldn’t even think about what the client would say when he found out that all of his tax information was gone.

My husband and I went to Bible study that night, and together our small group prayed over the situation, prayed that the missing documents would be recovered, and prayed for my peace. One person’s prayer in particular stuck out to me:

Father, I pray that Kelly knows her identity is not in what she does or doesn’t do, but in what you have done for her. I pray she knows that no amount of mistakes could make her any less your daughter.

Those words were a balm to my wounded spirit. I pictured Jesus holding me, reminding me of his great love for me and that even though I had messed up, my mistakes didn’t define me, he did.

I am a daughter of the King. Being reminded that my identity rests not in my success but in Christ’s sacrifice gave me the courage I needed to face another work day. I realized I had been finding my identity in what other people thought of me and in a job well done, instead of resting in the knowledge that no matter what, I am a beloved, redeemed child of God.

The next day at work, the missing files were found. The client had dropped them off in our overnight drop-off box, and the documents were wedged at the top of the chute. While having my name cleared was a relief, I look back and am more thankful for the lesson God taught me. When it comes to my identity, it’s not what I do or don’t do that defines me, it’s what Christ has done for me.

“He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me.”  -Psalm 55:18

Intersecting Faith and Life: Where do you find your identity, in the knowledge that you’re a child of God, or in the things you do or don’t do? Remember, the thing that separates Christianity from all other world religions is that it’s not what we do that saves us, it’s what Christ has done for us. You’re a child of God! Celebrate this today instead of focusing on your successes and failures.

Further Reading:

Psalm 55
John 15
Romans 8:1

 

[Judy Harder]

Ambition
by Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands. 1 thessalonians 4:11, NAS

Quaint, right?

Be honest; read today's verse and then try telling your children that such is all they should aspire to; that, essentially, unheralded, nose-down, mouth-shut, blue collar work should be their ambition. Aim high? Sounds more like settling for anonymity.

What could Paul be getting at? Sure there are times we all grow tired of the rat race and perhaps dream about a scenario where we forsake the city and a high-pressure job for a more pastoral setting, crafting furniture and knick-knacks, living in harmony with nature and all that. Is that what this verse is suggesting?

Let's look deeper.

The Greek word philotim means to labor, endeavor, strive, study to become. It is used in three places in the New Testament. The first is quoted above, regarding ambition, which we’ve already noted sounds not much like what we typically imagine when we think of things about which to aspire.

Another place the word appears is romans 15:20, where Paul writes, "And thus I aspired to preach the gospel..."

And in 2 corinthians 5:9 we read, "We have as our ambition... to be pleasing to Him."

Now let’s contrast these goals with the first definition under "ambition" on Dictionary.com:

1. an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.

I thought so. The more I study, the more I philotim to know God, the more I understand how different the Word and the world really are. Perhaps folks who live in other parts of the globe are less shocked to learn such lessons. For me, born, raised, working, and raising children in these United States, the lesson is always one of dichotomy, paradox, and sadly wondering if I'm handicapped beyond repair from truly following.

One of my bosses is fond of saying that in business, it's crucial to determine early on whether a person you are dealing with is a "make me rich" or a "make me famous" person. Everyone, the story goes, is either one or the other at heart. And truly, according to the world's definition of ambition, that makes sense. We all have something we want that drives us.

Lately I've been wondering a lot at where this has gotten me. Everything I have done, accomplished, purposed, learned, studied (i.e. "philotim-ed") in life has led to... what, exactly? What goal? When I pray that the Lord would make my life useful and provide for me and let me know His will and keep me safe it's all so... what? So I can watch my TV programs every night without acid in my stomach and with an easy feeling in my chest? As opposed to having to really live by faith?

Today I read this quote by the English poet Samuel Johnson: "To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition." Instantly my face fell. I knew that feeling all too well. All my aspirations only lead to the place of comfort, happiness, the path of least resistance. What's wrong with that? It quickly becomes a place that feels too far from God, too self-centered, too out of the loop, too air conditioned… too far removed to be making a real difference.

So then, what is the ambition of the Christ-follower? Let’s recap from the verses we’ve looked at today:

Lead a quiet life
Attend to your own business
Work with your hands
Preach the gospel
Be pleasing to Him
In other words, don't stress yourself with fame, or getting and spending, always climbing, making more more more. Don't bother with being a busy-body or a gossip. Be creative; let God work through you. Tell others about Him. And live by faith.

It's so simple, almost too simple. Ambition isn't something far out there, some unabashed worldly success beyond our dreams, though that's where God may take us. It all goes back to the very reason God made man in the first place - to have someone to know Him.

And there's just not anything quaint about that.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The bulleted points above might sound too easy, too simple. And they can be. But when was the last time you made any or all of these your ambition? Pick one and practice it today, perhaps preaching the gospel to someone, perhaps seeking God's pleasure more than your own in any decisions you make.

Further Reading

Romans 15:20

2 Corinthians 5:9

what motivates you?