Where are you from?
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going." (John 8: 12-14)
Karen Clark writes..
Where do you come from? I was just down in my hometown of Galashiels at the weekend for the annual common ridings. It was good to see 300 or so horses parade round the town and everyone out cheering them on. It was good to see a few old faces from my childhood and hear how they are doing. It was good to see the borders on a beautifully sunny day....
Where am I from? Well, normally I would have answered Galashiels! But after hearing Christopher Ash teach from John 8 last week*, I was reminded of Jesus’ answer to this question; He says I am from “the Father who sent me” (v 16, 18, 23, 26, 29).
Jesus defines himself, not in terms of time or place, but in terms of relationship and purpose.
Because Jesus was obedient in carrying out His purpose in redeeming us, we too can define ourselves in these terms. We are in Christ. We belong to God. We are His children. We are heirs with Christ, We are His bride, His friends, His beloved.
We also have a new purpose to identify ourselves by; we are God’s coworkers, His ambassadors, His body, His image bearers. We are called to glorify God in whatever situation we find ourselves in.
What a challenge to think of ourselves in this way!
Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Following Christ includes accepting and enjoying the new identity He has given us.
So, where am I from? Much as I love the borders, I am SO glad to be able to answer that question in relation to my new identity in Christ!
*The Staff Team were away last week at the “Evangelical Ministry Assembly” conference in London, this article is based on my reflections from one of the talks given by Christopher Ash. Conference Talks are (or soon will be) available to listen to online at the proc trust website. There are loads of other great resources there too so do have a look and see if there’s anything you might fancy listening to. Do have a look at our own resources page on the W2W website too!
