Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:

 ¹⁰  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

 ²⁰  But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! ²¹  My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. ²²  Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, ²³  a life renewed from the inside ²⁴  and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. Ephesians 4:20-24 (MSG)

34    Don’t be afraid of the truth, even though the truth may mean your death.(1)

We take them mostly for fun, or so we tell ourselves.

In the last week, I found I am Captain Jeffrey Archer, Inigo Montoya, the Green Lantern, and that I am an Elf.

The personality quizzes are fun, and mostly I can live with the results. ( being labelled a unicorn though?)  But these “tests” are getting more and more popular,Especially, how do I say this nicely, among those who no longer fit the “college/career demographic (20-35ish.)

We post the results, looking for affirmation? Looking for comments that tell us it’s okay to be Data and not Patrick Stewart, that its okay to not be Harry Potter but to be Dumbledore, to be Gomer Pyle rather than Church Norris.  (But why did I get picked to be St Stephen, the first martyr?)

We long to know that people will accept us for who we are, for where we’ve ended up in life, that it is okay to be… us.  We long to know who we are even, for there are days, where our self esteem plummets, where our confidence drops, when we dream of re-defining ourselves, and we look for someone we admire, someone we could be life.  And how we answer the questions more often describes what we would like to be like, than who we really are.

The challenge is to remember that who we are isn’t determined by our personality, or our vocation, or even our successes and failures. That we are who we are being “okay” doesn’t depend on what others think of us (especially if they read the 8th commandment)  It doesn’t even truly depend on our own understanding and approval of who we are.  St Paul refers to this when he talks of our limited knowledge:

¹²  We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 1 Corinthians 13:12 (MSG) 

St. Josemaria says that we don’t have to be afraid of the truth, even though it may mean our death.  In a way it does, for to know the truth about ourselves, we have to know that we have been untied with death, Christ’s death. (Romans 6:1-8, Titus, 3:3-8, Ezekiel 36:25ff)  For He is the truth, and it is united to Him, to His death and resurrection, that we begin to know our “true” identity.  The identity that God knows, the identity that He created us to have.  The identity that makes us more than our favorite hero (or villain) could ever be.

For you don’t just have the characteristics like a child of God, you have been created as one.  A creation that God promises is a Masterpiece.  One where we are judged by God to be righteous,

That is who you are….. who you really are.  A child of God, a friend of Christ, a masterpiece

No matter what those “tests” say.

Take His word on it!

(1)  Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 241-242). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.