AfterWords: "Getting Started - Who Am I?"

 

Luke 2:41-52

When we’re young, we begin questioning who we are around age twelve. Through adolescence, we strive to understand who we are apart from our parents and our families. Many people struggle a lot to figure that out, and a lot of parents resist their children’s quest for identity. Even Jesus, as a lad, had to find out who he was, and it got him into a little trouble with his mom and dad.

After their visit to Jerusalem for Passover, Jesus—unbeknownst to his parents—stayed in Jerusalem while they and their caravan began the journey back to Nazareth. They traveled a whole day before they realized he was not in the caravan. That meant an entire day of travel back to Jerusalem—two days already, now. On the third day, they found him in the Temple courts listening to and discussing with the teachers of the Law.

His parents were astonished, afraid, and a little frustrated—understandably so. When they confronted Jesus, he responded, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Already, Jesus is aware of his relationship to God, that he is the “Son of God.” Whether he knows what all that meant, we don’t know. But, he is aware of his identity. He knows who he is.

We, too, through faith, have an amazing, beautiful relationship to God. John 1:12-13 shows us that through and by faith, we become children of God, we become a part of God’s amazing family…with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that.

As part of the family of God, you and I do well to remember who and whose we are. We do well to begin this New Year recognizing who we are before God, and who we are for God. The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer is a good place to begin this New Year. May we pray this prayer with full conviction as children of God:

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things
To your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
You are mine, and I am yours.
So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.

Amen.

Sunday, January 5, 2025
“Getting Ready—Who Am I?”
Watch/Listen: HERE