Blog Post 2
Battle Of The Moment: Identity (Part 1)
Your Identity. This is the first thing a Royal Mystery Searcher grabs hold of and buries in his or her heart. Chewing it over in large haphazard chunks or small deliberate bites. Mulling it over in quiet reflective moments. Turning it around over and over again. Like some precious hidden jewel worth more than all the rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds in the entire world.
The other day, this is what I thought of.
Imagine if you suffered from complete amnesia…
I was sitting at a table outside by a hotel swimming pool, staring at some oleander bushes, swaying—ever so slightly—in the wind.
Listening to the loud reverberating sound of noisy cars and motorcycles in the immediate distance.
I observed through the transparent fence, a cyclist whizz past. Then another. Then a bus full of passengers zipped by, a little too fast on the narrow road for my liking.
I observed my daughter and her friend, from the edge of the hotel swimming pool, leap—in almost choreographed unison—into the air and take rather elegant nose dives into the clear blue water. And it was then I had this thought.
What if I suffered from complete amnesia? Right here and now?
With all its frightening implications, what would that mean?
This thought was alarming enough to fill me with foreboding terror and cause my skin to break out in a cold, clammy sweat.
It would mean that I, all of a sudden, would forget who I am.
Who my husband and my daughter are.
Who my father is.
Who my mother is.
Who my siblings are. Where I come from. What is important to me.
I would forget…everything.
What feelings would that evoke in me?
Disorientation. Gripping, paralyzing fear. Feelings of extreme vulnerability.
An overwhelmingly lost feeling. Not knowing who, what, where, why I am.
Not knowing who is safe. And who is an enemy.
Who loves me. Who hates me. Who wishes to harm or protect me.
A bone-crushing feeling of terrible isolation would—most certainly—follow.
My identity. Who I am and Who made me.
That’s what Ephesians 1 and 2 tells me.
I shift in my seat. A man and a woman—an older couple—pass by and beam widely at me. Perhaps it is because of the plethora of books I’m surrounded by. My Bible— open—in front of me. A large notebook. And multiple sheets and stacks of paper and other books I have spread across the table I’m sitting at.
The pen in my hand, the end of which I’m chewing.
Unusual—it must look—at the swimming pool.
I smile back at them. The man, with a grin, says something I don’t quite catch, before walking away with his wife.
I look down at the page open in front of me. And I read Ephesians 1: 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
I read on. About how I have been chosen. Ephesians 1, verse 4.
How I have been adopted through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1, verse 5.
How I have been redeemed through His blood. And forgiven according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 1, verse 7.
How I have obtained an inheritance. Ephesians 1, verse 11.
Paul—the writer of Ephesians—prays in Ephesians 1, verse 17 and 18 that:
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray (Paul says) that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
I repeat Paul’s prayer in my head silently. That the eyes of my own heart may be enlightened to understand better. And I go back to the beginning of Ephesians and read through Ephesians 1 again.
My identity.
Your identity.
It is the most common thing the enemy of our souls viciously, ruthlessly, systematically and calculatedly attacks. This is because it is the foundation on which you and I either stand or fall…
Be of sober spirit; be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5: 8
My identity. Your identity. Priceless.
Knowing who you are and whose you are. Infinitely more precious than all the treasure in the world.
For we are His (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2: 10
Till next time,
Lots of love,
Uche