Humanity

I Am Becoming Who I Am

November 3, 2022 by Michael Wilson

As a Christian I am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The old Michael was crucified with Christ and I have been born from above, born again into God’s family. I am a son of God, as righteous as Jesus because of what Jesus did on behalf of humanity. It’s nothing of my own doing; just simple faith in the work that Jesus did for me. I don’t claim to understand how God does it but I know that It’s true.

However, I don’t always live, act or feel like a son of God. I don’t always behave and live out of my identity as a child of God. When I was a teenager I believed that God was mad at me every time I sinned. If he wasn’t mad, then he was surely disappointed because I had failed to live up to his standards, or what I had been taught about his supposed standards.

During that time in my life, I got “saved” every Sunday because I couldn’t seem to get my act together. I so wanted to please God but felt I always came up short. I just knew that he was incredibly disappointed that I couldn’t get it together. I made so many promises to God that I would do better, not mess up as much and get it right.

I carried these thoughts and feelings into my adulthood.

When I would mess up, I would always beat myself up for three or four days, promising God I would do better, and that I would try harder not to mess up again. I was always on the performance treadmill.

When I became a parent at the age of 28 a change began to take place in me. Becoming a parent taught me about the fathering heart of God more than anything else. The love and care I had for my child was deep and moving. The things I felt for her were without words. I would give my life for this beautiful creature. Nothing she did, or didn’t do, would change how I felt about her. She is now 23 and married and I still feel the same way.

As much as I love all five of my children, my love for them doesn’t even compare to God’s love for us.

Most of us have been taught that God punishes us when we sin. I used to believe that the bad things that happened to me were coming from God’s punishment of me. I just couldn’t believe that God was ever proud of me because all I could ever see were the wrong things I was doing. For a long time, I believed he loved me (he had to love me because God is love) but I sure didn’t believe that he liked me.

But here is a question that I finally had to answer: If God is punishing me for my sins, then why did Jesus have to take my place?

The problem was that I didn’t have the right identity. I still saw myself as a sinner that had been saved by grace, but I was simply on parole. I didn’t see myself as being totally set free from my sins. Grace was not the emphasis, and neither was the word saved. It was the word sinner.

I. Was. A. Sinner.

I was taught that God hates sinners therefore God hated me because I couldn’t quit sinning. That was my thought process.

Boy was I ever wrong! I didn’t have a sin problem (Jesus took care of sin). I had an identity problem.

You see, my identity is that of a son. I now carried God’s name. Because of what Jesus did I, too, was now a son of God. No longer a sinner, but now a son. I am not a sinner saved by grace. I am a son of God that is dearly loved by God.

That means that every time I mess up, God says to me, “Son, that’s not who you are.” I always felt like a failure and saw myself as such, but God saw me as a son. He always speaks to what he sees in us. He always speaks to the Israel inside of us, and not the Jacob. He will deal with the Jacob, but speaks to the Israel within.

If our children talked to us like we talk to God, we would be beside ourselves. We would never let our children tell us how unworthy of our love they are, how much of a rotten person they are, how bad of a sinner they are. No! We would set them straight. Yet, Christians talk about themselves like this all the time.

If any of my kids ever came to me and talked like that I would speak to their true identity. They are mine. They are a gift from God. They are a Wilson and Wilson’s don’t talk like that. That’s not who you are. I would then tell her who they are. I would speak to their potential. I would speak to their giftings. I would speak about my great love for them. I would help them to see their true identity.

No matter what they do, or don’t do, they are and always will be my child. My love isn’t based upon their actions. If it is then it’s not love. Conditional love is an oxymoron.
I would help them to see that they are becoming who they really are.

That’s precisely what God, our Heavenly Father, does. He speaks into our truest identity, and that identity comes from him. So, when I listen to what he is saying to me, and I believe it, I then start to become what I am.

I am a son of God! And when I don’t act like it, he gently reminds me of who I am.

I am becoming what I am!

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What Is Man?

October 12, 2022 by Michael Wilson

In Psalm 8, David asks a question of God. He asks, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” What an important question for us to ask. When we think about God in all his majesty and wonder what are we?

Have you ever stood next to the ocean? I have and can tell you that looking out at the ocean’s vastness, I felt small. I have been to the Grand Canyon several times in my life. Standing on the rim of the canyon and seeing the immensity of it, its beauty, and understanding the danger if I fall over the edge, I felt tiny in comparison. When I look up at the night sky realizing the limitlessness of space, again I feel small.

God created all of it. He is so much bigger than all of this. He is the one that simply spoke things into existence. He created man and breathed life into man. He created man out of love, in hopes that humanity would love him back. Yet, often times we don’t. Even though we are created in his image, we don’t act out of love like God created us to do. Far too often, we treat others inhumanly, as less than image bearers of God.

Why does God take notice?

So, what is man that God should take notice of him? Humanity hasn’t changed since Adam’s fall. We can look at history and understand that man can do some pretty wicked things. Mankind can be very hurtful to one another. We kill one another in wars and in drive-by shootings. We destroy one another with our words, not valuing the honor and worth of any person’s life.

Cyberbullying is the newest way we destroy one another. I’ve seen where teens will tell other teens to go kill themselves, that the world will be better off without them. What is man that God should be mindful of them?

I love this question that David poses. I think that it’s something that most people grapple with. Let me put his question in another form: “do I matter?” How about this way: “Does God see me?”

How many times have people prayed something like, “God, I don’t know if you exist, or even if you know who I am, but will you please help me?”

Do I matter? Do I have a purpose? Does God see me? Does he know me? Have I blown things so badly that he wouldn’t even look at me?

What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

That’s the question on most of our minds, isn’t it? But the question doesn’t stop there. David goes on to give us the answer because knew the heart of God. The shepherd boy turned king had spent a lot of time talking with God while he tended those sheep. He knew the heart of God towards him. He knew God’s heart so well that God himself said that David was a man after his own heart (Acts 13:22).

David asks the question in the midst of his marveling over creation. Yet, we find that man is greater than creation. David declares that God made man a little lower than God himself, and crowned him with glory and honor (v. 5). Not only that, but he made him to rule over God’s creation (v. 6). He put all things under man’s feet (v. 6-8).

What I want us to see is that David is writing this after Adam’s fall. This is an important point that we can’t afford to miss.

God’s Greatest Creation

Most Christians look at man as washed up and degenerate. Most of what I heard growing up was that man was depraved and incapable of doing good. Supposedly, this was because we had Adam’s sin within us. We were depraved from birth. We had no hope. Now, I do understand that we cannot be saved without Jesus so I am not saying that we are good enough to earn heaven.

I am saying that David recognized that God still saw mankind as his greatest creation. Mankind was still his image bearers, broken as they may be. Mankind was still crowned with glory and honor.

Notice in these verses that David isn’t talking about what God had done in the creation narrative. David says that “you crown him” not you “crowned” Adam. He says “you make him to rule” not you made him a ruler but he blew it.

This is a most important distinction for us to understand. It has to do with our understanding of how God sees us, and how he has always seen us. He sees us as he created us. We are his image and likeness. He will not throw away his creation!

He is still crowning mankind with his glory and honor. Mankind may, as Adam did, throw it off, reject it, and walk away from it. But God is looking at us in that manner. He is constantly drawing us to Jesus so that we can see clearly how he sees us. We can’t see God clearly without Jesus.

One other important thing to understand about this passage is that David wrote this under the Old Covenant. This was written pre-Jesus. That’s important because many Christians teach that when God sees us he sees Jesus. I struggle with this some because I don’t believe that God wants us to lose who we are as his creation.

God Knows

Yes, we are in Christ as a believer. I am in Christ as it relates to his righteousness and what he has done for me. But to say that when God looks at me he only sees Jesus, I believe is fundamentally wrong and denies the fact that God loves us individually. He knows our names. He knows our thoughts. Let that sink in for a minute.

He . . . knows . . . YOUR . . . name.

He . . . knows . . . YOUR . . . thoughts.

He . . . knows . . . WHO . . . you . . . are.

He . . . SEES . . . you!

Yes, if you have put your faith in Christ, then you are the righteous of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Yes, we are part of the body of Christ. Yes, we are the bride of Christ. But, God never asks us to lose our individual identity to become just one of the masses in Christ.

We are not like the Borg in the Star Trek franchise where we are simply assimilated into the group and lose our entire identity. No, God knows you. God has crowned you with glory and honor. He has made you a little lower than Himself. He has made you a ruler over the works of his hands. This is a corporate and individual thing!

As we individually assume this mandate and charge, then collectively we will work together for the good of God’s creation.

The post What Is Man? appeared first on Michael Wilson.

Who is Man?

March 11, 2019 by kingdomlife

Throughout my years as a Christian, I’ve observed that most of the struggles believers face have their origin in the inaccurate or erroneous beliefs we hold regarding the true nature and character of God.

Just as there is a grossly inaccurate belief in the hearts of many believers regarding the true nature and character of God, there is also an equally destructive and crippling view regarding the true value, worth, dignity and identity of man.

If we are not taught a proper, biblical sense of identity and self-worth, we will seldom experience God in an intimate and meaningful way!

And if what we believe about the Bible, God, and ourselves doesn’t agree with the revelation of the gospel in the New Testament, we may never experience God’s Word working consistently and effectively in our lives!

Establishing a Biblical Self-Worth

Religion and legalism have caused many to lose track of their true identity and worth, leaving them stripped of a healthy, biblical sense of who they are.

Traditionally we’ve been taught that being human is either evil, weak or deeply unspiritual. In many ways, true “spirituality” is believed to be about denying, disowning and escaping our humanity through legalism and moral discipline

Something Other than Human

As Christians, we’ve been encouraged to disown our basic humanity by doing all we can do (prayer, fasting and imposing moral disciplines) to reject our human emotions, passions and instincts!

As a result, many believers struggle to reconcile who God is and who they are as human beings!

For so many, it’s almost unthinkable that a holy God would have any connection with their deepest human dreams of enjoying everyday life. But it’s only in our union with God that we discover the fulfillment of being human!

If we correctly interpret Scripture, we find that God’s whole purpose for creating us is to be HUMAN. In the eyes of God, the very fact that we are HUMAN defines our true identity and value to God!

For so many, it’s almost unthinkable that a holy God would have any connection with their deepest human dreams of enjoying everyday life. But it’s only in our union with God that we discover the fulfillment of being human!

God’s Eternal Intentions, Plans, and Purposes

According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the FOUNDATION of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. —Eph. 1:4-5 (KJV)

God’s eternal plans have always been for us to find our origin and identity in Jesus Christ!

EMMANUEL—God with Us!

Who, although being essentially one with GOD and in the form of GOD [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make GOD GOD], did not think this equality with GOD was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like MEN and was born a HUMAN BEING.—Phil. 2:7-8 (AMP)

EMMANUEL—God One of Us!

Therefore God will never be ashamed of you being part of His family!

For the one (God) who makes men holy and the men who are made holy SHARE A COMMON HUMANITY. So that he is not ashamed to call them his BROTHERS … And again …in these words: ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given me’. Since, then, “the children” have a common physical nature as HUMAN BEINGS, he (God the Son) also became a HUMAN BEING, so that by going through death as a MAN he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; …It is plain that for this purpose he (God the Son) did not become an ANGEL; he became a MAN, in actual fact a descendant of Abraham.—Hebrews 2: 11-18 (Phillips)

Therefore, the gospel is an emphatic declaration that GOD NOT ONLY LIKES HUMAN, BUT LOVES HUMAN!!

HE ACTUALLY BECAME ONE!

Naked and Not Ashamed

January 29, 2019 by Michael Wilson

So many people are living at the circumference of their lives instead of the center of their lives. This was a statement made in the book “Everything Belongs” by Richard Rohrs. This was one of those statements that rocked me. I began to realize that for the vast majority of my life, this has been true of me.

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A Man Did Time For Me

October 6, 2015 by Michael Wilson

Prison life has always fascinated me. It’s another world inside those walls behind the fence. I’ve watched numerous prison movies and documentaries. The whole concept of survival in a place like that is interesting to me. I once had a friend who spent eighteen years of his life behind bars. His stories intrigued me as I listened to the things that went on behind the barbed wire.

Prison Bound/Thomas Hawk /BY-NC

As much as I am interested in prison life, I definitely would not want to go to prison!

Just the thought of it brings on a sickening feeling.

I was watching a movie recently about the life of Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls or the Notorious B.I.G. In the movie, Christopher was running from the police and he was carrying a weapon. As he was running he ditched the gun in a trash can. He was eventually caught and the police found the gun. They just didn’t know if the gun belonged to him or his friend who was with him at the time. Christopher had already done time and his music career was in the beginning stages of taking off. His friend told him he would take the gun charge for him so that he could get his music career going. It would have been a three year sentence. Christopher reluctantly agreed. Being this was a movie, I don’t really know how true the story line is but I do know that there are men and women who are doing time for someone else. That is true friendship and love for a friend.

I wonder if I would ever do time for someone else. I think about my kids or wife and I think I would do it for them. I don’t believe I will ever be put in that position but the point of doing someone else’s prison time is a very curious concept.

In my thought process, I see Jesus as doing time for me. How could the Almighty Son of God become a human, deal with temptations and human issues and then die? How is that even possible? I know that we read about that happening in myths and legends. I also know that many people believe that Jesus wasn’t the son of God. I know that many people don’t believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

But I believe it! I don’t know and understand all the intricacies involved in it but I believe it.

Jesus “did time” as a human being. He willingly became “imprisoned” in a human body with human limitations. The most miraculous part of it all was that he chose to do it. He chose to lay aside all his abilities as God and experience life as a normal human being.

The Bible tells us that he was tempted in every way that we are. I don’t think that most of us have ever thought deeply about that. We read about his temptations in Matthew 4, but we don’t see any temptations beyond that listed in the Bible. I believe that he was tempted to lust after women, to steal, to lie, to cheat, to do things that would make life easier for him. I am tempted with those things and so is the rest of humanity.

Temptation is a part of our daily lives. The good news is that God understands our weaknesses as humans because Jesus did time as a human. I don’t understand prison life because I have never been there but someone who has been will understand the harsh realities of prison life . . . because they have been there.

Jesus has been there as a human being! He understands our weaknesses and frailties.

Because Jesus understands he is able to give mercy and compassion. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He is able to come alongside us and help us carry the burden. He is able to pray for us because of his vast knowledge of the human experience.

The things I have experienced in my life bring me an understanding so that I can comfort, help and guide others who are facing similar experiences. However, I have found myself out of my league when dealing with someone who has gone through something I have never experienced. I have no point of reference. I have no understanding.

Jesus isn’t like that though. Somehow, during his time on earth, he managed to experience all that comes against humanity. I don’t think that he experienced every single little temptation that we do, like the temptation to smoke a cigarette. But I think that the basic temptations of life were experienced by Jesus. I believe that Jesus dealt with things that are related to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).

I believe that our entire temptations boil down to a few basic temptations, such as the need to feel loved, the need for acceptance, the need to feel validated, etc. I believe we all do things for a reason. Every time we do something wrong, there is usually a deeper reason for it. I believe that Jesus’ temptations were in the areas of trying to fill needs within his life that would replace his dependency upon God. That’s simply my opinion and it would make a great discussion but that’s for another time.

Jesus did time for me as a fellow human being. I wonder when Jesus realized that He was the Son of God. I wonder if he felt the limitations of humanity. I wonder if he was ever tempted to use his abilities as God to get himself out of situation. I know that in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal and arrest he appealed to God for deliverance. He admitted that he could call down angels to fight his battle but he didn’t. He accepted the mission of death.

I don’t believe that Jesus looked at his time as earth as “doing time.” When you love someone you will go to whatever lengths necessary to help them. That’s what Jesus did for humanity.

The Creator became the created. God became man. The Son became a son. Life experienced death. Jesus did time for me and you. He is the man that “did time” for all of us.