My ID Says Jesus is Always Talking About Me

Dan Sullivan   -  

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
John 2:23–25 ESV Read More

You don’t have to be around people very long to discover that one of our favorite pass-times is defining other people. Talk to a kid that just graduated from High School or College and ask them how many people give them advice on what they should do next. Per day. We are good at it.
Andy Gries and I got cussed out in Lakota one night because I got excited, pointed my finger, and happily started to tell a Lakota man what he should be happy about. He did not appreciate it.
We are prolific definers.
Jesus took His identity from what the Father told Him. He could have been fueled by all of the people that were excited about His miracles. They wanted a king, and with enough of a riot and chaos, they might be able to overthrow the Roman outposts and make Him king. Judas Maccabeus did a pretty good job several decades earlier. Surely with His miracle powers, Jesus could beat Rome even worse!
He could have drawn His identity from the Jewish leaders. A notable rival, to view Himself as their reformer or the hero to their villain would have been a noble quest. Instead of thinking of who He was, He could draw His identity from those He was against. Whatever they were, He wasn’t them. He could have a big list of things that He didn’t do that He did.
Isn’t it crazy how much we are tempted to do these same things?! We can draw our identity or define others by dreams we want to accomplish or by the negative things we don’t like. It’s a wonder any of us are friends at all.
But Jesus went another way. He spent time with the Father and became an expert on knowing God, and like any good friendship, Jesus knew what the Father thought of Him too. What a stable personality we can have when we don’t entrust our identity to the power of other people, but instead, entrust it to God. God loves us so much. He cares about our every need, mood, thought, and longing. He sees everything we do in the long-term, kingdom of God perspective. Hebrews 7:25 says Jesus is always interceding, pleading for us.
When Jesus pleads, God listens. That is enough to define ourselves by.
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