Identity theft is a big business these days. According to the Canadian Anti-fraud Call Center, Phonebusters, there were nearly 8,000 identity theft complaints made in 2006 with losses estimated at $16,283,000. Since then, the numbers are increasing.
From shredding our mail to using security software, we try to protect our personal information, but how would I prove who I am if someone stole my identity? If another person got their hands on my birth certificate, Social Insurance Number, address and so on, how could I show that I am the real me?
It is easier to prove my nature. That is, I am a human being, a woman, and most could guess my age within a few years. In the New Testament, when Jesus asked His disciples who He was, they knew He was talking about that. Even though they replied with His name or title, the identity beyond the name is what makes Jesus unique.
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15–16)
A son of a beaver is a beaver with characteristics of its father. It would act like a beaver and do the things beavers do. The son of a human being is human with human characteristics. He would act like a human (at least most of them do) and do the things that humans do.
Peter said that Jesus is the Son of the living God. That means Peter knew that this person who asked the question was not mere human. He wore the body of a human, was born of a woman like a human, but His Father was God. This Jesus demonstrated the qualities and characteristics of God. He did things that only God can do.
I’m well aware that this is difficult to understand. To put the incarnation into its simplest terms, God who cannot be restricted to time, space, or form, put on human flesh like a man might put on a pair of pants and stepped into our world. God is spirit and not visible, but He became visible that we might see Him and know what He is like. He also became a man that He could take our punishment for sin.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5–8)
I’m not sure which part of this passage is the most amazing; that Jesus Christ who is God became a man and died for me, or that He tells me to be like Him in attitude, to have the same mind. I know that God created me, but I also know that I was not created a child of God in the same way that Jesus is the Son of God.
When God created human beings, we are made in His image in some way, but we were made of earth, not the same essence as God. We sin; He does not. We are finite; He is infinite. We have limits to our knowledge, power, and presence is space and time; He does not.
But we see Jesus — who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9)
I am a child of God, but I could not have done that. My sinful nature makes any sacrifice of mine tainted and unacceptable to God. Only the sinless One could be a perfect sacrifice. Even though Jesus wore flesh, there the resemblance to humanity ends. It is as Paul said when he wrote to Timothy:
Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)
Great indeed is this mystery. I know who He is, and I know what the Bible says about Him is true, yet when I think of it and try to wrap my mind around it, the identity of Jesus Christ is more amazing than my brain can process. People call themselves by His name, and argue about who He is, but one thing is certain — no one can steal the identity of the Son of God.
Some days the spiritual truths that I know and the way God works in my life are frustrating. Yesterday was one of those days.
The DVD drive on my desktop computer will not read two new program update disks because they are multiple-layer DVDs. After ascertaining that the disks were not faulty, I went online to the Dell support page and did the phone call option. Within seconds, a technician from Canada called and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He said the only solution was a new drive, and that they are about $30 in any PC store. I asked if a new drive would work in my particular computer. He put me on hold to check, and that was the beginning of a huge patience-test. I think I flunked.
After a few minutes, instead of background music, a menu started. I waited. Eventually I was taken to a USA office, who scolded me for calling the US instead of Canada, transferred my call supposedly to the Canada office, but I wound up again with a US tech, who scolded me again, and transferred my call. This time it went to Canada, but the person was in the commercial division and scolded for calling him instead of the home division. He transferred me.
I finally got to talk to a person in the same office as my original caller, but he not let me talk to the original technician. He wanted me to go through the whole story again, and kept telling that my DVD drive was okay, and that my disks were faulty. I told him that I loaded the programs on the two disks to my laptop, so there was nothing wrong with them. This had to be repeated several times. He didn’t believe me. Further, he mumbled a lot, and when I asked him to repeat something, he told me that I needed to turn off my speaker phone and then I could hear him. He would not repeat anything he said.
To make a three-hour long story short, they finally decided to send a tech to my house to replace the drive. However, they are not going to put in a drive that will read multi-layers. They will replace the one that I have with the same thing. It will not read these two program disks either, but they would not listen and said, “After we are done, you will be happy.”
I already know that I need an updated DVD driver. I just wanted to find out if my system will support it. No one ever answered that question and I didn’t get to talk again to the savvy tech who knew what I wanted and went to find my answer.
After all of this was over, I remembered my confession a few days ago concerning lack of patience. I also thought about the only way that God builds patience — it is through trials. Then I also remembered the verse I’ve been reading the past few mornings:
. . . being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Today I also remember the verse that says, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8) and I chafe a bit. I’d rather just be obedient and skip the suffering part. Yesterday’s three hours plus telephone tag and talking to a person who was more like a recording isn’t huge on the list of painful events, but it was a test of obedience. Would I be like Jesus? Or not? Sigh.
God, some days, patience isn’t my first priority. Some days I just want people to listen to what I am telling them and believe what I say. (I’m sure that You do too.) Some days I wish PC tech people would drop their “check list” and pay attention to what the customers are saying. We know a few things too. However, You know that my patience-development is not yet completed. This was all about what I need, not what I want. You have begun the work of making me a patient person, but here I am wishing you could just zap me with a big dose of it instead of having to go through the only process that works.
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When I was nineteen, I went to a movie restricted to people sixteen and older. I was asked for my ID to prove my age. At the time, I was highly insulted.
Several times in my childhood I can remember wanting to be an adult, or at least older than I was at the time. While older people had more responsibilities, they also had more privileges. I wanted that.
Now I joke that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but more seriously, I do want to grow up, not physically but spiritually. I want to be all that I can be in Christ. As Paul said, “I press toward the mark. . . .” yet so often I am aware that the mark is a very high standard. I’m not even close to it.
Christians sometimes use this set of initials: PBPGIFWMY. It stands for, “Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet” and in part, comes from this verse,
. . . .being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
I’m not sure how many times others have asked God for patience when it comes to putting up with me, but I know that I get very impatient with myself. When I crash, I am disappointed. Not only do I disobey God, but I fall short of everything that I want to be and do. I feel like a tottering toddler or an awkward teenager and want to be mature, as in right now. I’m not very patient with the process.
However, God is patient with me, far more patient than I am and more than any other person. He knows that I will stumble and fall, particularly when I think I have my act together and become even slightly proud of myself. He knows that life’s events will catch me by surprise and for a time I will forget that He is in control and panic like a person who has no faith at all. He knows that when things go smoothly, I will be caught up in the pleasure of that and neglect to ask for His care and protection. Yet in all this, He is patient.
During Easter dinner we watched our three great granddaughters play and sometimes get into things that they should not. Everyone was patient with them. The oldest is only three, the youngest less than a year. Our expectations were not adult maturity for them, but patient maturity for ourselves. They will grow up and learn as they do. We could only chasten them for disobedience, not for being children.
My Father God has all the patience of the universe. He knows that He will finish the job of remaking my life. Someday I will be like Jesus. Since that is a given, He can be patient and confident that I might act like a child at times, but one day I will be grown up.
Since He is patient with me, and since He calls me to be like Him, then I need to be more patient like He is. That includes being patient with myself. To live is Christ means just that — patience with me, His little child who struggles to be all grown up instead of just letting growth happen, and who continually needs God to teach me and mature me along the way. I cannot do this without Him.
As I think about this, what I really need is to be patient with God.
When I first met RA, she was needy, full of herself, and mad at the world. She had just become a Christian, but showing up for church was almost the only evidence. Those who knew her and picked her up each week said they dreaded those short periods with her because she was such a negative person.
However, God did not stop at forgiveness of her sin. He had more in mind for this woman and her problem-filled life. Within six months, she was transformed from an angry, attention-seeking, childish adult, to a joyful woman who never stops smiling. She says she spends hours in the Bible and in prayer. Her face shows her deep awareness of God in her life. Her problems have not changed, but she has. When I read these verses, I think of her.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:3–6)
I also think of several others on my heart in whom God has begun a good work, but it seems as if He has stopped. They are not growing, at least not at my visibility level. I wonder at times if they have real faith or if God has set them on a shelf.
Then I remember that Paul knew God would finish what He started with the Christians at Philippi and my concerns become prayers of thanksgiving. God has a plan for each one of the people He saves. It might not go the way I expect or envision, but nothing is too hard for Him, and nothing can stop Him from doing what He has planned.
Today is Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrate the greatest plan of all, God’s amazing plan of salvation. We know that we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from our aimless conduct received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, and was manifest in these last times for us who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17–21).
God planned redemption through Christ before He created the world. Christ was revealed to us, and through Him we are saved. Our part is trusting in Him and confessing our sins — and we can do that because, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).
Sometimes I get anxious about those who profess Christ but seem to be stagnating in their faith. Then I remember that God finishes what He starts. I still pray for them, but with confidence, not fear.
Sometimes I get anxious about those who do not know Christ, worrying that they will perish. Then I remember that God has a plan and that nothing is too hard for Him. He can start someone on the road to heaven, keep them there, and bring them to that final destination. I still pray for them too, but the anxiety is replaced with confidence in the ability of God to finish what He starts and to do all things well.
Some people can start a project and carry it on to completion. For me, that has always been a struggle. Getting sidetracked is one issue; getting bored with it is another. I make quilts, and quilters have a name for projects that get started and somewhere along the line are put in a box or on a shelf so we can start another one. They are called UFOs or unfinished projects. Sometimes we call them PhDs or projects half done.
God isn’t like that. Oh, yes, I am a work in progress, but He has no permanent UFOs in His kingdom. Notice the last lines of this passage in Paul’s letter to the Christians at Philippi:
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:3–6)
God never gets bored and never gives up. He is persistent and relentless in His goal to make each believer like Jesus. I resist (how foolish) and miss the point of life with Him every time I am sidetracked with temporary things, but His plans will be fulfilled. He says so.
He not distracted either. Even with the millions of souls under His daily care, He is able to multitask to the max, caring for each one of us and moving us toward the maturity and perfection of Jesus. Even if we don’t make it in this life, He has that under control too.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)
The day I leave this life and step into eternity, Jesus will be there to greet me. When I see Him, the transformation will be complete and God’s project will be done.
The lovely part of this persistent quality of God is obvious. I have a certain hope, not because I can hang in there but because God will not give up on me. The convicting part is that to live is Christ means I also need to be more focused, more persistent myself, more faithful to finish what I start.
This isn’t about quilts (even though that is a good place to practice persistence). It is about focusing on the goal God has for me. It is about keeping my eyes on Him and cooperating with Him in the work of making me like Jesus. It means that every time I am pulled aside by my own ideas and goals. I need to remember the relentless determination of God. He will pull me back on track; He will get me to where He wants me. Fighting God is foolish and a waste of time and energy. Working with Him is like betting on a sure thing — it makes both of us winners.
My DH attended a webinar at work on the topic of handling difficult people. I’m reading a novel and last night’s chapter was about handling difficult children. Our granddaughter posed a question on Facebook about how to deal with a difficult person. Clerks in retail stores face this challenge continually. There seems no end to the supply of difficult people.
I suppose David would have used the word “enemies” in speaking of those who tried to overthrow him as king, yet they were difficult people as well. In humility, he asked God for help and God taught him how to battle his enemies.
Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle — my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. (Psalm 144:1–2)
In David’s case, the battles were physical. In today’s workplace, this is not encouraged and could be illegal or worse. A few weeks ago in our city, a disgruntled employee went into his workplace with a shotgun and killed and wounded two people he considered his adversaries, then turned the gun on himself. His way of settling differences ended in disaster and the problems were never resolved.
I don’t know what my husband’s webinar told him, but I’m certain that it included patience, listening, understanding, and other legal and fair options. When I am struggling over what to do with a difficult person, God gives me the same advice. Consider all the angles.
One of our GD’s Facebook friends gave this suggestion in regard to her ‘difficult’ person: “Be so nice to them that they cry when you leave the room.” That is biblical too. Jesus says to love our enemies and do good to those who hate or persecute us. Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
In the Old Testament, God often took on the battle for His people and told them to “Stand still” and let Him fight for them. On those occasions, God confused or confounded the enemy in some way and they either killed each other or fled.
On some occasions He gives odd instructions for war that would normally make an enemy laugh, but they worked. How many cities have been taken simply by marching around them until the walls fall down? Only Jericho — and only God could win a conflict with that strategy.
My conclusion is that there are more ways to wage war than by actual fighting and more ways to meet the challenge of difficult people than by heating up the conflict. God is wise. He knows what will work in each situation.
Too often I go to Him after I’ve run out of resources or ideas. Nevertheless, when I need advice and wisdom, He gives it. His instructions may seem odd or strange at times though. If that is the case, I need to remember the ways that He led His people to victory, both in the OT and the NT, and also in my personal experience. His strategies are far better than all great and wise human leaders. He always knows what to do.
The readings for these few days from my devotional book are about praising God for teaching me how to fight. This is not the same kind of fighting as the battles experienced by the original author. Psalm 144 was written by King David who ruled the nation of Israel. He had literal enemies who tried to dethrone him, even enemies within his own family. David continually relied on God for help and God continually rescued him. This is why he could say:
Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle — my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. (Psalm 144:1–2)
I’m not a king nor do I have anyone literally trying to kill me. When I rely on God for battles, they are of a different nature than the battles David fought. Nevertheless, I cannot fight these by myself.
My biggest enemy is my old sin nature. It continually jumps into the fray of life, trying to unravel me and keep me from trusting God and doing His will. That sin nature has a mind of its own with objectives that run counter to the will of God. It was for this that Jesus died. My sinfulness was forgiven when Jesus bore my penalty for those sins. With Him, I am also given the power to overcome that sin nature. Apart from Him, I am helpless. This enemy is too strong.
The second enemy, who knows very well how the sinful nature operated (he has it himself) is Satan. He continually jumps into my life with lies that counter the truth of God. He continually attempts to dupe me into doing my own thing, which would suit his foul purposes. He slanders God, slanders God’s people, and pours doubt like acid whenever he thinks he can get away with it. This enemy is also too strong for me. He fooled sinless (at that point) Adam and Eve — what hope would a sinner like me have against his power? Praise God that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has already sealed his fate!
The third enemy is the lure of the world, the temporary, the things around me that I can see, that appeal to my desires for comfort, ego boosts, possessions, power, popularity, and all things temporary. Of course this enemy is a tool of Satan who uses it to appeal to my old nature. The three of them usually work in cahoots to bring me down.
But God teaches me how to fight. First, He shows me how to recognize the enemies, how to tell a lie from the truth, how to recognize self and not confuse that with the voice of the Holy Spirit. He shows me how the world enters the picture too. Knowing the enemy is paramount when it comes to fighting and winning battles.
He also gives me weapons to use in my battle. The most important are listed in Ephesians 6 and called the armor of God. Some pieces of this armor are defensive, such as the helmet of salvation and the shield of faith. One of them, the sword of the Spirit, is offensive. This is my best weapon, for it is the Word of God.
Using Scripture, God teaches me how to discern my motivations and intentions. Familiarity with God’s Word can nip selfishness in the bud, before it expresses itself.
The Word is truth also, the only weapon against Satan’s lies. No matter how he presents them, whether suggestions to doubt God or through worldly enticements, Scripture puts his lies into bright light, exposing them and destroying their power over me.
Besides being trained for battle, God also shows me how to be fortified before the battles come. Read His Word. Stay close to Him in prayer and obedience. Know His perfect will and go with it. Be strong and know God, rely on God. Don’t give Satan a foothold. Recognize and resist. Obey God and be strong.
To live is Christ means giving no place for selfishness, sin, lies, or temptations. Of course I am not there yet, but knowing the goal makes it easier to keep my eyes on it rather than be distracted by the ruses of my enemies. For this, I praise the Lord who is my rock, my high tower and refuge, my shield and deliverer. Without him, I would quickly be totally defeated.
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