We'll soon be back to video blogging: a few more weeks of therapy exercises for strength and mobility before things go back to normal. Well, as normal as possible. Our schedules have also been shifting and changing and I've found little time to record when everyone's around.
Still, I hope you've been enjoying our guest blogger, Kathy Ashley, author of Vitamins for the Soul, from Sword of the Lord Publications. She's back today with a fantastic thought to carry you through the week.
Are you ready for a little math lesson? It's an easy concept, I promise; but the spiritual application is very profound. Enjoy!
In mathematics there are two identity properties that define certain mathematical functions: one is of the addition of zero to any number and the other is the multiplication of one to any number and the answer remains the original number. Obviously, these properties are useful in algebra, geometry, and higher math; but perhaps, they are not properties that we use every day. However, identifying a term is necessary, though, to see its value. Once we have the value of that term (whether a number or variable), we then can understand its place, its purpose, its reason for being in the equation.
As with people, identity encompasses who a person is. Our identity defines who we are; it is also how others define us. When we describe ourselves, what do we say? Blond hair, blue eyes; brown hair, brown eyes; red hair, green eyes; or do we respond, wife, mother, teacher, nurse? Or do we refer to where we are from or what nationality we are? Psychologists suggest that the summation of all our life experiences creates our identity, who we are. I’m not quite sure about that one, though, because I believe that there is a God in Heaven that controls my destiny, my life’s circumstances. I know the situations through which I have passed and the lessons that I have learned have matured me in ways I did not imagine.
As women, so much of our security is founded in our identity. Accepting the physical features with which God created us forms the basis of our identity. Knowing our abilities, our talents, our likes and dislikes allows us to create the person we see ourselves as. Our propensities and tendencies exhibit our inner personality. Therefore, when we are accepted by those around us for who we are, we feel secure. But, that very security is threatened when trouble and friction present themselves. Our insecurities grow when the very properties that we relied upon are suddenly gone. What happens when cancer treatments take our hair? What happens with the loss of our husband and we are no longer a “wife.” What happens when we lose a part of ourselves?
When that defining quality no longer exists is a moment of extreme turmoil. We must look beyond the physical, the social, the mental abilities and see who we are in Christ. Our identity begins once we know Christ as Savior as in John 1:12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. As well as in Galatians 3:26, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. In chapter 4:6 he continued, And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Our spiritual identity matures as we walk with him as in Romans 8:16-17, The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Our identity cannot be summed up by the temporal; it must be rooted in Him.
The assuring aspect about numbers in mathematics is that they do not lie. Two times two is always four, unless something else is in the equation. The identity property is certain. So, we can have that same certainty, no matter the variables that are thrown into the equation of our lives; we can know who we truly are. Our identity is based on Him, in which Titus 1:2 states, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. He does not change, He does not lie; neither should our identity waver into insecurity because our identity property is founded on Him.
-By Kathy Ashley
If you'd like to get your own copy of Vitamins for the Soul, simply click HERE for the Sword of the Lord website.
Stay strong, My Friend! Don't waver!
Simply Standing Firm,
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