Who are we meant to be?

A very good question, and the answer, if you can accept it, is given to us in Scripture--that is the Holy Bible, the book that God wrote to tell us about His Son, Jesus Christ, and His great love for us. Many amazing truths are revealed in these ancient writings, and if you are willing to seek God humbly with all that you are, think, feel, and do, He is willing to give you wisdom and understanding. I'm not just talking about that which you may have heard many times before. I'm talking about Truth and revelations that even a good number of Christians have never heard. God says that if you are willing to turn from your wrong-thinking, wrong-acting, and wrong-doing, He will reveal that which has been long hidden, share His Spirit with you, and even show you the path of life. Sometimes this knowledge comes quickly, like in a flash or vision, sometimes it comes slowly, but, if you continue in Him, always it comes just when it should.

You might feel a nudge at your feelings or thoughts in response to the words written here. If so, that could be God, either knocking at the door to your life or gently urging you to consider carefully your path in light of these matters. If He calls to you today, open to Him without delay. If you're willing to trust Him, He desires to lavish great love upon you. Whatever struggle you're facing, He knows and cares. He desires to help you, but you must turn to Him in sincerity. I pray that you're encouraged and strengthened in seeking the Love of God and His desires for your life this day, and I thank God that you've come to read these words. I pray also that eyes, ears, hearts and minds will be opened to the message God has for visitors to this page.

Now then, the answer to the question of who we are meant to be comes to us by the assistance of His Holy Spirit, which I know not everyone who will read these words will have access to directly. I will do my best to deliver the details in a clear and concise manner so that all who are willing and able may see. If these words help you at all, be sure to give thanks to God.

Let us begin at the beginning. In Genesis, we read that God placed the man and woman He created in the Garden of Eden to work and keep it. In the original language, the words sometimes translated "work" and "keep" could also be translated "serve" and "protect." Finally we begin to find some insight into just who we are meant to be. First, it tells us that God cares about the environment and desires that we do what is in our power to care for it. Too many people have abused the dominion humanity was given over the world in the Bible. Too many have dwelled in ignorance for too long. Second, it tells us that God desires that we should be servants and guardians when the situation calls for someone to fill those roles. Like superheroes of old, we were made to be more than we are. So, before we fell in Eden, we were designed for good purposes from the very beginning. You can read the story for yourself in Genesis, chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, Bible Hub is a decent website. If you need something a little more covert, you might consider theWord app, which can be stored on (and run from) a USB drive.

Sadly, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, a wedge was driven between ourselves and God as a consequence of their choices. We couldn't serve and protect anything properly from that moment on because it became part of our very nature to serve and protect ourselves, rather than others. We were intended, from the beginning, to love one another and even need one another. But the story of Cain and Able demonstrates that, because of disobedience, selfishness and jealousy divided even the first brothers born to the first parents. You may read that story in Genesis, chapter 4. Now, God always knew these events would occur, so He had a plan prepared since before the beginning that would involve the coming of His Son, Jesus, to repair what was broken of old. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, which I will talk about more at another time, and in so doing made a way for us to be reunited with God; afterward, He was raised from the dead to give us hope of eternal life. You may read for yourself about all that Jesus came to do in the New Testament.

Now, to become once more what we were intended to be, we simply need to trust Christ. If we turn from our broken desires and Godless ways, look to Him in hope, and submit to His Lordship over us, He is able to lead us from darkness into light, from death unto life, from brokenness to wholeness. When we become a Christ follower, He makes us a new creation in Him. We then need to be baptized in water and Spirit. The first signifies that we have passed from death to life and the second joins our spirit to His. We cannot be fully obedient to Him without doing the first. We cannot be fully victorious in this life without doing the second. Once we have passed this threshold, we may enter through Christ upon the Way. So long as we do not turn aside and continue to love as we are loved by God, nothing can separate us from Him.

Many will try to soothe you into silent mediocrity concerning this last point, but see to it that you are not beguiled by their arguments. At this point in our growth as human beings, we are free once more to obey God in all. We will not be completely free of brokenness until we see Christ, but we can be free to choose well the good and reject that which leads to death.

As I said earlier, we were made to need and love each other, so none of us is complete alone. We are each, those of us following Christ, members of the body of Christ with Jesus as the head, and just as a body is composed of different parts with different purposes, so each of us is only able to reach the fullness of God's intent for us as part of a genuine group of Christ followers. A hand without an arm is only a severed limb, useful only insofar as it is able to be grafted into a new body. So we are to be servants and guardians fitted neatly into the Body of Christ, just as God intends.

The growth of humanity in Christ doesn't stop there. Once we are joined to the Body under one head, that is Christ, we are also meant to function as His Bride. Now, this is not some bending of gender, but rather a metaphor symbolizing the joy with which we are to look forward to the big day when we no longer need to be physically apart from our God. So the Bride of Christ is the Church--by which we mean the entire body of genuine, following believers wherever they may be found. And how should the Bride of Christ behave? God describes for us the Wife of Noble Character, which I respectfully submit to you refers most perfectly to the True Church of God. Full understanding and appreciation of that passage, however, requires some maturity in Christ, and then only by the Spirit in-dwelling. You may read all about God's desire for His people in Proverbs, chapter 31, verses 10 - 31, though you may not fully understand what it says at this time. I will write more on this later.

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