I am a comic book geek, a sci-fi nerd, sufferer of Cleveland sports, husband of one, son of two, and uncle of three. I grew up in the 1980's. I enjoy heavy metal and hard rock music, and was the all-star second baseman of the 1982 Garfield Hts. Little League Athletics (I know this since I still have the trophy). But, all of this pales in comparison to the fact that I am loved by God.
We are defined by what we are, what we are not, things we can do, things we like, things we dislike, things we want to do, and the things we don't want. We can be categorized by our gender, our race, our political leanings, our occupation, and the type of church we belong to. We have many labels, many definitions to our life. We gain and lose these definitions as time goes by.
For me, I have always been a comic book fan since I was five years old. As of this writing, my collection numbers just under 17,000. Most of these are kept in a hidden secure location.
Growing up, I was (and still am) a big fan of baseball and football. My favorite player was Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt followed by Royals third baseman George Brett. I wanted to play third base and be as good as them. If anyone knows me, my potential Hall of Fame baseball career ended when i was 14, not because I was untalented - I blame genetics. Ok, I wasn't that great and I stopped playing because it wasn't fun anymore and the rise of obnoxious parents living through their children's exploits was beginning to rise. (Not my parents though, they supported me and came to every game and you never noticed they were there unless they were cheering).
I went to High School, finished fifth in my class, was a member of the National Honor Society, and was on the Academic team for three years. I even appeared on Academic Challenge twice. (Sidenote: If you have copies of those appearances, feel free to burn them).
I then went to THE Ohio State University (obligated by Ohio law to emphasize THE when mentioning the university's name). I majored in Accounting, met lots of friends, learned to live on my own, continued my collection of comic books, and got involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Vineyard Church in Columbus.
I eventually found an accounting job, received my CPA license, bought my first house, and got married.
Now, you know a little of my resume. Who I am, some of my background, my likes and dislikes. What does that mean? What is my identity? What is the best description of me? I am married, I am 42, I'm a Christian, a CPA, son, brother, and uncle. But the question remains: What is my image? What is my most important identity?
Our identity starts in the book of Genesis 1:27 specifically "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them" What does that mean? God thought us out, planned us out, and created us. Then, He proceeded to love us. We are to reflect back to God and creation the very good purposes of God on creation. It is a blessing to be created in His image, but we lose ourselves in trying to improve on that image. Our society has companies spending millions in advertising telling us what our image should be. Politicians hire consultants to communicate a specific image, and then attempt to spin opinion or influence media. We also do a lot of things to enhance our image to prevent others from seeing us for who we really are. The main reason for our "enhancements" is to cover up the truth. That we are in need of restoration and redemption.
Our sinful nature gets in the way of us having our true identity. We are in need of redemption, but we are unable to do that on our own try as we might. Thankfully, God took care of that in the person of His son, Jesus. Through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, we can become redeemed. It then matters in our response to that fact.
1 Corinthians 19:20 says "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." This shows that God loved us so much, he sent His son as a sacrifice and bought us with the price of Jesus' blood. This doesn't mean we should have a huge ego, but rather praising and glorifying God with our bodies, minds, and hearts. We need to be humble and realize what it took to be able to have a relationship with God.
The part of the bible that comes back to me are Jesus' words in John 15:15 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Think of that, Jesus calls us friends. Yes, He is Lord of my life and deserves all my worship, thanksgiving, and life - and He calls me friend. How cool is that? He also promises that knowing Him, we will know everything He learned from his Father. All we need do is ask Jesus and listen to Him with our hearts.
When you think about it and realize what our image and identity is, it can be mind blowing. Created in the image of God, bought with the blood of Jesus, and called a friend of Jesus. If that is our identity - do we need any other image enhancements? God shows us here that we have all we need from Him. At the end of the day I am a Christian, servant of the Lord, lover of Jesus, friend of Jesus, and a sinful man bought with the blood of Jesus. That's who I truly am. Knowing that, makes me happy.
We are defined by what we are, what we are not, things we can do, things we like, things we dislike, things we want to do, and the things we don't want. We can be categorized by our gender, our race, our political leanings, our occupation, and the type of church we belong to. We have many labels, many definitions to our life. We gain and lose these definitions as time goes by.
For me, I have always been a comic book fan since I was five years old. As of this writing, my collection numbers just under 17,000. Most of these are kept in a hidden secure location.
Growing up, I was (and still am) a big fan of baseball and football. My favorite player was Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt followed by Royals third baseman George Brett. I wanted to play third base and be as good as them. If anyone knows me, my potential Hall of Fame baseball career ended when i was 14, not because I was untalented - I blame genetics. Ok, I wasn't that great and I stopped playing because it wasn't fun anymore and the rise of obnoxious parents living through their children's exploits was beginning to rise. (Not my parents though, they supported me and came to every game and you never noticed they were there unless they were cheering).
I went to High School, finished fifth in my class, was a member of the National Honor Society, and was on the Academic team for three years. I even appeared on Academic Challenge twice. (Sidenote: If you have copies of those appearances, feel free to burn them).
I then went to THE Ohio State University (obligated by Ohio law to emphasize THE when mentioning the university's name). I majored in Accounting, met lots of friends, learned to live on my own, continued my collection of comic books, and got involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Vineyard Church in Columbus.
I eventually found an accounting job, received my CPA license, bought my first house, and got married.
Now, you know a little of my resume. Who I am, some of my background, my likes and dislikes. What does that mean? What is my identity? What is the best description of me? I am married, I am 42, I'm a Christian, a CPA, son, brother, and uncle. But the question remains: What is my image? What is my most important identity?
Our identity starts in the book of Genesis 1:27 specifically "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them" What does that mean? God thought us out, planned us out, and created us. Then, He proceeded to love us. We are to reflect back to God and creation the very good purposes of God on creation. It is a blessing to be created in His image, but we lose ourselves in trying to improve on that image. Our society has companies spending millions in advertising telling us what our image should be. Politicians hire consultants to communicate a specific image, and then attempt to spin opinion or influence media. We also do a lot of things to enhance our image to prevent others from seeing us for who we really are. The main reason for our "enhancements" is to cover up the truth. That we are in need of restoration and redemption.
Our sinful nature gets in the way of us having our true identity. We are in need of redemption, but we are unable to do that on our own try as we might. Thankfully, God took care of that in the person of His son, Jesus. Through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, we can become redeemed. It then matters in our response to that fact.
1 Corinthians 19:20 says "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." This shows that God loved us so much, he sent His son as a sacrifice and bought us with the price of Jesus' blood. This doesn't mean we should have a huge ego, but rather praising and glorifying God with our bodies, minds, and hearts. We need to be humble and realize what it took to be able to have a relationship with God.
The part of the bible that comes back to me are Jesus' words in John 15:15 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Think of that, Jesus calls us friends. Yes, He is Lord of my life and deserves all my worship, thanksgiving, and life - and He calls me friend. How cool is that? He also promises that knowing Him, we will know everything He learned from his Father. All we need do is ask Jesus and listen to Him with our hearts.
When you think about it and realize what our image and identity is, it can be mind blowing. Created in the image of God, bought with the blood of Jesus, and called a friend of Jesus. If that is our identity - do we need any other image enhancements? God shows us here that we have all we need from Him. At the end of the day I am a Christian, servant of the Lord, lover of Jesus, friend of Jesus, and a sinful man bought with the blood of Jesus. That's who I truly am. Knowing that, makes me happy.
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