adminPastor Tinashe Zinyemba The Christian Youth
WE have entered the second half of the year, and we want to thank the good Lord for keeping us this far. Sometimes we are not where we want to be but we have to take a step back and realise that we are alive not because of our own intelligence or strength but rather by the grace of God. Let me take this opportunity to say thank you for all who are sending us emails. We have been talking about discovering your purpose in God over the past few weeks and sincerely hope that it has been enlightening.
It is important for you to know that God has a definite purpose and assignment for you.
That is why you are the one who is alive today and not anyone else. You were not made to just get married, have children and then die, or to be born get a job a family and then die. Rather God made you for a purpose and it can only be fully realised in Him.
When thinking about this we realised one of the biggest challenges that young people and actually many other people is an identity crisis, or knowing who they are.
This is critical because sometime we do not know who we are and cannot actually identify ourselves with Christ. This results in us not living up to our true potential and most times we end up making decisions that actually affect our future in the negative.
Let me give you two example of young men in scripture who did not understand who they were and they lost out on a great opportunity for their future.
The first is found in Genesis 25:31-32, which says: “And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?”
Can you believe Esau sold his birth right for a bowl of soup?
In Genesis 27, Jacob cheats Eau out of the blessing but I believe it all began with not understanding who he was.
The second example is found in 2 Kings 5:26, which says: “And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?”
Elsiha was the main man, and Gehazi was being trained to be next in line to take over from Elisha yet he sold his future for a few trinkets.
I think I am getting ahead of myself let us take a step back and look at this a little.
Identity can be defined as the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognised or known. Now, my question to you is what is your identity? What individual characteristic are known by and for?
Are you known for your short temper or your patience? Are you known for being a hard worker or for being lazy? Are you for how you dress? Your attitude? Behaviour? What is your identity?
We tend to get our identity from what is around us, so for example we identify with our parents or guardians as children then we grow our social circle to identify with our peers at school at so forth and so the cycle continues until we are adults.
Many people suffer from identity crises because of who we choose to identify ourselves with.
For instance we will identify with high profile individuals like politicians, successful family members, movie stars or famous musicians, we might even identify with a place or culture.
I believe God lets people like these into our lives to motivate us and activate something sleeping within us. The tragedy however is that sometimes we chose the wrong role models and identify with something that seems great on the surface but can literally cut our lives short.
Enter Esau and Gehazi.
Esau was the favoured son of the wealthiest man of the region, his grandfather was Abraham the father of faith. Isaac his father had encounters with God himself yet Esau chose to identify with the culture around him and not his father, grandfather or the culture of his family.
Scripture says he married woman that were not godly and were a problem to his parents, no wonder why he devalued his own inheritance and ultimately lost all to Jacob.
Gehazi had the best mentor anyone could ask for. He was witnessing miracles and supernatural activities like no mans’ business yet he chose give that all up for material gain and he lost his position with the man of God and gained leprosy.
Sometimes we identify with the wrong crowd, we identify with the wrong belief system and ideology that goes on to frame our decisions and identity such that from a young age we known for the wrong reasons. We are known for bad behaviour, or being good for nothing.
Today, ask yourself what your identity is. Who are your role models, who do you look up to, what motivates or drives you.
Do all you can to identify yourself in Christ Jesus. If you find yourself in Him, you will discover your true identity and purpose.
Look for Christ like examples in your life to follow and be true to who you are as a person. You will feel so liberated and free. That is when you will find it will be easier for you to function in your calling.
Apostle Paul puts it this way in Phillipians 3:14: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
That is all for now. ‘Til next week, God bless.
Tinashe Zinyemba is a pastor at New Life Covenant Church. Email feedback to [email protected]
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