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In theological terms, God is archetypal and man is ectypal.
That is, God is the self-existent one and man is derivative of Him; man owes his entire being to God. Man is dependent upon God for his existence and cannot exist apart from God.
When man is struggling with issues of identity – with wanting to feel comfortable in his own skin – it does him no good to solely examine himself. In order to fully know himself and fully understand himself, man must seek God and endeavor to know Him.
John Calvin was very wise when he wrote in the opening pages of his Institutes:
“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves…In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he, “lives and moves,” [Acts 17:28].”
And again a little bit later on:
“Moreover, although our mind cannot apprehend God without rendering some honor to Him, it will not suffice simply to hold that there is One whom all out to honor and adore, unless we are also persuaded that He is the fountain of every good, and that we must seek nothing elsewhere than in Him.”
Not only must we recognize that apart from knowledge of God will we never truly know ourselves, but also that a true knowledge of God consists of worship, reverence, awe, and humility.
To know God will cause us to worship God, and to worship God will allow us to see His magnificence, and accordingly our place in His plan and His kingdom.
“Our knowledge should serve first to teach us fear and reverence; secondly, with it as our guide and teacher, we should learn to seek ever good from Him…you cannot behold Him clearly unless you acknowledge Him to be the fountainhead and source of every good.”
Do not feel insecure, inadequate, or anxious. Know God has created you – as you – specifically.
Turn to Him, seek Him, and worship Him.
“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart”
- Jeremiah 29:13
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth”
- John 4: 24
Only when you lose sight of yourself in all that God is, will you truly find yourself.
There is no more sickening a feeling in the pit of your stomach than leaving a conversation or encounter, only to replay it in your mind like this:
“Did I say too much? Too little? Should I have offered a different opinion? Should I have offered no opinion at all? Does he even like me? Does she even want to talk to me? Why didn’t I speak up more? Why did I speak up so much?”
Few things are more cutting or caustic to one’s confidence and ability than insecurity.
Few things are more painful than simply not feeling comfortable in your own skin.
More often than not, we leave situations only to look in a mirror and ask, “Lord, who am I? Who have you created me to be? Why? How am I gifted? How may my life best be used to worship, honor, and glorify You?” Insecurity and inadequacy are feelings that occur far too frequently in our hearts and minds.
However, this question of, “Who am I?” is often the wrong question.
Rather, we should be asking, “God, who are you?”
Left to our own flesh, we will sink only lower into the pit of wallowing, self-pity, and desperation. Left to answer the question of, “who am I?” by ourselves, we will only find disappointment and misery.
However, when asking, “God, who are you?” we see the focus move from us to God, and there is no point of focus more worthy than Him.
In seeking God and desiring to know Him, we realize not that we are inadequate, inferior, or insecure, but that we are wanting when our life is lived apart from His grace, love, and truth.
We will turn soon to how we can rightly know ourselves through seeking God by understanding what John Calvin meant when he wrote of the two-fold knowledge of God and man, but for now rest easy in God’s grip and worship Him.
He has created you, He knows you, and He has purposed you very specifically.
In times of inadequacy and insecurity, remember you are precious to God: He numbers the hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30), goes behind and before you (Psalm 139:5), and has a magnificent plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11).
The Danish (the country, not the pastry) philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was well-known for including parables in his work. Here is one of his most famous parables:
It is related of a peasant who came barefooted to the Capital, and had made so much money that he could buy himself a pair of shoes and stockings and still had enough left over to get drunk on – it is related that as he was trying in his drunken state to find his way home he lay down in the middle of the highway and fell asleep. Then along came a wagon, and the driver shouted to him to move or he would run over his legs. Then the drunken peasant awoke, looked at his legs, and since by reason of the shoes and stockings he didn’t recognize them, he said to the driver, “Drive on, they are not my legs.”
This parable was written early in the 1850′s in Copenhagen, yet I find it very pertinent today – an accurate depiction of the ills we face today in America.
We set out on the well-intentioned pursuit of success and victory in life, only to attain it and be consumed by it thereafter.
And when we have indulged to our heart’s content on the spoils our success has granted us, we lay down unaware of the danger that is fast approaching.
When warning signs present themselves, we do not recognize the whence or the wither of our trials and have no other recourse save for, “Drive on! They are not my legs!”
We set off to buy ourselves that new pair of shoes, and after we do credit ourselves with the success, and consider it innocent enough to satiate our longings for more…. only to be consumed by them and find ourselves in the most dire of situations.
Much has been made of the secularized state of America, and I would not pretend to be an expert and espouse this opinion or that perspective – I am uneducated on the subject and would do more harm than good.
But I find significant wisdom as to the precarious existence of our country in John Calvin’s two-fold knowledge of man – that we do not know we come from God gives us cause to not know ourselves because knowledge of self is tied intricately, inherently, and inseparably to knowledge of God.
As a culture I believe we have forgotten who and where we come from – who gives us breath and who orders our life.
We are tricked into believing the end of existence is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – selfish, man-centered goals with no thought to He who holds the universe in the palm of His hand.
We forget life is for His glory; we are consumed with including all and making existence acceptable for the creature, we give no thought to the Creator.
We have forgotten where we came from, and therefore have not the slightest clue as to who we are, where we are going, what we are doing, or what ills befall us. We are a purposeless culture with our heads in the sand and our hearts content to long for the most temporal of satisfaction.
i fear purpose-less living.
i fear limping along in life with no direction, no motivation, no purpose.
i will always desire to know my God, but too often i forget the daily call on my heart to seek His face and walk in daily, constant, perpetual communion with Him.
too often i forget i am to literally hunger and thirst for my God.
literally hunger for Him and thirst for Him.
and when i am not consumed with my God, i lose sight of myself (John Calvin was on to something with his two-fold knowledge).
when i am not striving after Him, i lose awareness of who and what i am, and who i serve.
my thoughts, my actions, my words – they become meaningless and purposeless. i say and do things i regret.
not big things, not major things, just stupid things. purpose-less things.
i speak without thinking, i speak without edification to those around me; i speak just to hear my own voice.
i do things without thinking, i do without a desire to love and serve my neighbor; i do just for the sake of doing. i forget to be still and know He is God.
i become a person who doesnt cherish life in community with fellow saints, my brothers and sisters in Christ. i become a person who doesnt cherish life in community with people who dont know my Savior and Lord, and need to. i become a person who doesnt cherish the image of God in every single person i pass on the street.
i become numb, cynical, prideful, vengeful, and miserable.
i become purpose-less.
but oh the joy of simple living according to His purposes!
“But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33
But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12
oh the joy of living His purpose.
