Currently my children have been enjoying watching the Incredibles movies. Random lines from the movies will be repeated at the dinner table amidst peals of laughter. My 6-year-old particularly likes to imitate Dash and thump his fists on the table while exclaiming, “It defines who I am!”
While this is all in good fun and very amusing to all, I still find myself wanting to pause and have a serious conversation about what he is really saying. It’s perhaps a difficult topic for little ones to understand, but oh so important and something I want to instill in them now. What does it mean to define who we are? Who and what defines who we say and think we are? There is so much life ahead of them, but also so much noise surrounding our children (and adults) these days trying to tell us who we are and ought to be. But there is only ONE voice worth listening to.
From the opening pages of Genesis, the Bible tells us we are created in God’s own image. Throughout the pages of scripture, we find verses exclaiming the truth of our identity:
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
On and on it goes. The Bible makes it absolutely clear who God says we are. We are His, chosen and dearly loved. The only way to experience true and full, everlasting JOY is when lose ourselves to the world and find ourselves completely surrendered to the Lord. You are a child of God, and no one can take that away.
-Lauren