Defined By God
Let’s look at how Paul’s second letter to Timothy teaches us the God-centred life.
If I had to ask you to introduce yourself today, by sharing your name and the thing that defines you, what would you say?
I remember a church meeting at a previous church where we had to do this. And the responses were typical:
- Hi I’m Bob, I’m a father of two girls, I own my own business.
- Hi I’m Mary, I’m a grandmother and I’m retired.
- Hi I’m Tom, I’m married to Mary, I worked in the mining industry, etc.
True Identity Found
I noticed that most people define themselves in two main ways: by their family relationships and their work role.
And that’s normal, I think there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I said something similar at that meeting - I’m Luke, married to Shereen, working here at the church as a pastor. This is quite normal - defining yourself by your closest relationships, and the thing you spend most of your day doing for a living.
Others see various different aspects of their lives as their primary way of defining themselves. In today’s world it’s common for people to define themselves by:
- Their sexuality, or even in these strange times, their “chosen gender”.
- For some, their nationality is all important. Why is Donald Trump so popular? For one thing, because of his ‘make America great again’ slogan! It stirs up a nationalism in many Americans, making them want to be AMERICAN FIRST!
- Of course in our country, people get very passionate about their ‘clan’ - it’s not only a black/white issue, but among white folks there is often tension between English and Afrikaans, while between black folks there is often tension between Zulu/Xhosa and so on. We are proud to define ourselves by our heritage.
- Even in church! I’m a Nazarene! I was a Methodist! Maybe you’re a Baptist, Presbyterian, non-denominational! How we like to define ourselves by these things.
- Or what about defining ourselves by our sin, or our struggles? Many people do this. I’m just a sinner. I’m just a mess. I’m just an addict. I’m just a nobody.
Define Yourself Godward
But look at Paul, and how he introduced himself in this letter: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,” (2 Timothy 1:1 NIV) Man I love this! I am Paul - an apostle of Jesus, by the will of God. He could have said: Paul, a proud Jewish man! Or Paul, a tent-maker and leader of the churches! But he defined himself by his relationship to Jesus. GOD at the centre. His own self revolving around God – that’s how he saw it.
The truth is, until we define ourselves primarily by our relationship with God we will always be putting ourselves at the centre.
Put him at the centre! Define yourself by Him, and you’ll come to know who you truly are.
