Musing #28 - Where Your Identity is Found

  Hi, friends! How are you all this fine February day?
  Did my post title give you a little surprise? This post is surprising to me, too . . . one I fully hadn't intended on writing, but God can reveal Himself in the most mysterious of ways, and I feel that I should share this little experience with you :-).


  I have very recently read a tidbit on the Romans and their history of art, and suddenly, as I was reading, God's whisper leapt from the page: "This message is for you, Ellen."   
   Immediately, that message sunk in.
  I read that the Romans would build sculptures of their emperors. But do you know what they did at times? When a new emperor came to the throne, the head off the old emperor would be ripped from the sculpture, and the head of the new emperor would take its place. 
  Think about this a moment. 
  Okay, now you're probably wondering, "Just what message can God have for you out of a history lesson, Ellen?"
  This: a lesson - not on history - but on people-pleasing. We all care what others think - each, probably, in our own way. We might care how we dress, how we do our hair, etc., all in fear of one's opinion. We might be those who try to be there, at all times, for all people. We might be those who change our opinions and our ideas so we can have things "in common" with these people. And it aggravates us when no one takes notice of our efforts. 
  In so doing, we're placing our identities on people. In other words, that's who we are - people-pleasers. That's where we lay ourselves down. And if we pour our all into that, we're in for a huge let-down. We strive, and strive, and strive to make these people happy, and for a little while we succeed. 
  Then . . . just like that, these people are gone from our lives.
  They walk off, and all our efforts are wasted. These small but powerful efforts probably hadn't ever even been noticed.
  Yes, this is all that my little "history lesson" brought to mind. One day, you have your head up on that statue. You're a big person. You've accomplished your goal; everyone is your friend, and they pat you on the back every day and tell you how great you are. But then comes the morrow . . . and you're on the ground. Another "head" has taken your place. 
  Face it: we can't be all things for all people.
  The lesson is a painful one to learn, a bitter one to swallow. It reminds me of these few lyrics from "Jesus, Hold Me Now" (by Casting Crowns):
  One day you're a prince, the next day you're a slave.
  Remember this: there are so many places to put our identity. One, as I have said, is people, and there are still others, like blogs. We might place our identity upon the number of followers we have, the amount of comments and pageviews we get, etc. "If we just get X more followers . . ." is the usual way we say it. 
  But there is only one right place to put our identity.
  In Jesus. We are His children. We are made in His image. And we were put on this earth to bring glory to Him, not to others. Again, another Casting Crowns song pops to mind:

". . . The Voice of Truth tells me a different story,
The Voice of Truth says, 'Do not be afraid.'
And the Voice of Truth says, 'This is for My glory.'
And out of all the voices calling out to me,
I will CHOOSE to listen and BELIEVE the Voice of Truth"
- "Voice of Truth"

  Today, starting right now, I bid you, friends, to listen only to that Voice of Truth - Jesus Christ. Close your mind to that ever-bothering question, "What will they think?" and strive only to serve Him - the One Who loves you, knows what you do, cares about what you're going through, and will deliver you from it all. Trust Him!
  We're living for the world to see nobody but Jesus!

~Ellen