In my early years,it was not uncommon to hear someone say they needed to go out and “find them self.” This usually involved a journey far from home and a variety of experiences, many of which could possibly qualify one for jail time.
We can still find a variety of websites that help you “find yourself,” many of which include five steps or eleven steps or immersing oneself in ancient mythology or advice from Deepak Chopra on Oprah’s website.
It seems some people still feel they have lost themselves.
Now, I “lose” my coffee cup or my glasses or the wrench I just had in my hand all the time and every time I relocate that lost item, I find it in exactly the same place:
Right where I left it.
As much as I’d like to blame someone else or an uncaring, unfeeling “universe” that I put something somewhere and I forgot where I put it, it’s all me.
I would submit that those who would seek to “find themselves” would find what they are looking for right where they left themselves:
In the hand of God.
We are here not to serve ourselves, but to love God and to love others. Our identity, our fulfillment, our joy, and our peace are not in serving ourselves. For it is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are not only counted as sons and daughters of God, but heirs to His glorious kingdom.
So, anyone who truly believes in Jesus Christ is not a lost, wandering soul without purpose and direction in life, but a beloved son or daughter guaranteed the inheritance of the greatest King of all—the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
As Paul writes to the faithful believers in Ephesus:
(Ephesians 1:16-21 ESV)
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
As for me, the “immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe” isn’t something I need to look up on Oprah’s website.
God is not hard to find and His promise is simple:
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.–(Jeremiah 29:13 ESV)
Are you seeking God? Do you know someone who is? Have you ever helped someone find God?
Today’s Praise
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.–(Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)