I Am What I Am

Friday, June 07, 2013                 1 Corinthians 15:10

I Am What I Am

Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer, has been required reading for every pastor since the book was first published in 1972. Nouwen’s assertion is that when we embrace our brokenness, we can risk being vulnerable to others, and thus be used by God to extend His healing hand to others. (See my meditation, “Dandelions”) In Nouwen’s conclusion to his book, he clarifies how the furious longing of God can liberate us to become the people God created us to be. Nouwen says that seeking the life in Christ does not mean to live a life like Christ.  Rather, it is to live your life as authentically as Christ lived his.

No, this idea is not a contradiction to living your life by the acrostic, WWJD. Jesus was an iterant preacher and healer. We are not called to follow exactly in his footsteps. However, Jesus lived the entirety of his life through faith that he was indeed the beloved child of God, with whom God was delighted and upon whom God’s favor rested. Seeking the life in Christ, or living life by WWJD, means we too live our life through faith that we are the beloved child of God, with whom God is delighted and upon whom God’s favor rests. Can you see how liberating this is? Because of Christ's redemption, we are free to live in the truth that we are a new creation of infinite worth. We are deeply loved and completely forgiven. We are fully pleasing to God and totally accepted by God. We are absolutely complete in Christ. When our life reflects our true and authentic identity in Christ, that reflection is dynamically unique. There has never been another person like each of us in the history of mankind, nor will there ever be. God has made each of us an original, one of a kind, a special person.

Scripture encourages us to “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God” (Hebrews 4:16a). With this mind, let us open our hearts to the transforming love of Abba so that we can truly love ourselves for God’s sake. Remember, this love of self is not narcissistic. Rather, with this God given love of self, we are accepting and embracing our true identity as the beloved child of God, with whom He is delighted and upon whom His favor rests.

I am persuaded that the reluctance, or refusal, to accept God’s gift of new life in Christ is the most significant deficiency in Christians today. When in holy boldness we claim our true identity as the beloved of God, we can boldly join the Apostle Paul and affirm, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10a NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.