I Am What I Am

Cor 15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God [that is] with me.

You are in trouble when you have brother-in-law who is a preacher.  My sister-in-law posted this: "Is there only an intentional thought of self or an occasional self preservation of self ? ...."  All those philosophy classes in preparation to become a deacon would be put to use.  In fact, look at the quote on the title banner that I have from Richard Rohr. (Growing up, I always thought this was Popeye's thing, but Popeye quoted the Bible.) 

I started thinking about her post. Then Richard Rohr happens to post a blog on the subject of self, so I had to answer.  

So here is my message to her post. (Not exactly the same, sometimes I get wordy so I tried make it easier to read.)  

The bible says that "I am what I am by his grace." When God created humanity, humans were created in perfection. It was our fallen nature that is the blemish on our perfection. It causes problems with who we are and what we are - self.

The true self is given to us by God. It can never be hurt. The true self believes in itself. It is indestructible and does not have to wait for accolades.  Each of us is born with a true self.  It is the self we have as infants and young children, bold, loving, and self assured. We all still have that true self inside of us.

The false self is what we experience. The false self is the one that hurts and is the source of insecurity. The false self begins to form from the minute we are born. Message from our parents, society, media, peers, and other worldly influences attacks our true self. 

We abandon our God given self for the false self of this world. It is formed by our "immediate" experiences, perceptions and emotion. Every one but God validates the false self and the false self is become an accepted worldly reality. 

Everybody tells us who we are or what we should be. This is the problem with the false self.  We focus on a self defined by something other than God. Someone else said we are not smart. We don't meet their standards. We don't belong with their group. People lose their true self and live in the false self the world has identified.   

Self preservation of the true self should not be an occasional thought but the true focus of attention. It is a toil to keep the true self alive, but by God's grace each of us can say "I am what I am."

After all this to come us with an answer to her great philosophical question, I think her question was rhetorical.

Prayer:

Lord God, You created me as I am, as you did each of us, a unique perfect self: keep us from becoming the false self given by the world. Grant us peace in our true self and let us recognize the true self of others, especially in the poor and those who mourn.  Amen