Actions Speak Louder that Titles || Who Am I? || Week 3

Welcome back to another week of finding who we are. Today, we stick to the theme of actions speaking louder than words because the titles we’ll discuss today are actions that we can do. If you’re new to this series, first off, welcome! Second off, this series is called “Who Am I?” and talks about the different things that God calls us to be. We’ve done two weeks of this identity exploration, and we have more to come, so stay tuned, catch up, and invite God as you read. Let’s dive into it.

Title #1: I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind.

2 Corinthians 4:4 – The ruler of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They cannot see the light of Good News – the message about the divine greatness of Christ.

Paul starts off by talking about how Satan has clouded the minds of those who don’t believe in God. The current worldly mindset is expressed by the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes, and views of most people. This includes the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. In essence, Satan has blinded non-believers view of the world to focus more on what he wants and what the mass majority of people want instead of on God. To be blinded means that Satan has let the non-believers follow life without God, which panders to them and also deepens their trust in the world. Ultimately, God allows this blindness to occur because he allows Satan to roam and gives us free will to decide. As believers told by the Great Commission, our job is to go and make believers in all of the far reaches of the earth. Not to force religion or Christianity on to people, but to talk to them about it and plant the mustard seed. We are not in charge of converting people. Because we believe and are called the light of the world, we need to just shine in some people’s darkness and show them, by our words, and actions how God can work in their lives. 

Title #2: I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions.

James 1:22 – Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. 

James 1:25 – But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.

James tells the reader to be doers rather than simply listeners. Confusing, I know, but he’s emphasizing that their entire personality should be characterized by doing. James claims we’re only fooling ourselves by listening. This term he used was often used in mathematics to refer to a miscalculation. Professing Christians who are content with only hearing the Word have made a major spiritual miscalculation. Overall, James tells us to go out and do God’s work rather than just listen to God’s Word. I believe that by putting God’s Word into action, you can take your understanding of it to a whole new level. It’s a whole new learning style that we are often overlooking because many of us, myself included, are always intrigued by learning God’s Word, but how many of us are putting his teachings into action. Not many, I’d assume, because often acting on God’s Word is scary and pushes us out of our comfort zone. All we need to remember is that God equips us to do what he’s called us to and goes with us in doing whatever he has called us to do. We can be a doer of God’s Word in many different ways from the variety of spiritual gifts given to us. 

God’s perfect law shows the presence of God’s grace doesn’t mean that there is no moral law or code of conduct to obey. Believers are enabled by the Spirit to keep the law. We receive freedom from sin by following this law. As the Holy Spirit applies the principles of Scripture to believer’s hearts, we are freed from sin’s bondage and are enabled to obey God. The Holy Spirit gives us powerful gifts to be able to do what God needs. Just because we’ve received God’s grace doesn’t mean we are above the law. It’s more likely that we are more stringent to the law BECAUSE of our relationship with Christ. Because we are followers and believers of Christ, we are supposed to follow God’s law, principles, and teachings each and every day. We need to be the example of how God works to others so that we can shine God’s light into other people’s lives. This is the best way we can increase the population of the kingdom of God. 

Title #3 – I am a joint heir with Christ.

Romans 8:17 – If we are God’s Children, we will get the blessings God has for his people. He will give us all that he has given Christ. But we must suffer as Christ suffered. Then we will be able to share his glory.

Every believer is an heir of God. We will receive eternal salvation, God himself, glory, and everything in the universe. Unlike the Jewish practice of the importance of the firstborn son, under Roman law, the inheritance was divided equally between the children, where the law more carefully protected possession that had been inherited. God appointed Jesus to be the heir of all things. Therefore, each of us heirs receive, by divine grace, the entire inheritance Christ received. Jesus, and his disciples, made it clear on multiple occasions that being a believer in Christ can lead us to suffer. Still, it’s through understanding and comprehending the same types of suffering Jesus went through is how we will receive the inheritance.

It’s hard to comprehend how we are compared to Christ because it feels like it should go against what we were taught growing up. Still, we tend to usually forget that Jesus was fully human. He came to earth as a human, died as a human in place of us, and rose back to life in a human form. The human side showed that if God’s child can be a human, we can also become a Child of God. If the price to gain our inheritance is through experience suffering as Christ did, then I’m willing to do it. I understand that I could have been placed on the cross to pay the price of my own sin, but Christ did that for me. It’s the least I could do to return the favor. 

Title #4 – I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me.

Romans 8:37 – But in all these troubles, we have complete victory through God, who has shown his love for us.

To be “more than conquerors” is a Greek compound word, meaning to “over-conquer” or “completely conquer,” without any real threat to personal life or health. This is SO true for us. We have the power of God’s protection over us each and every day. I’ve had plenty of hardships and battles in my own life, but I’ve also overcome whatever was thrown my way each and every time. Not many people can have that type of a winning record, but when you have the ONE who was conquered death, hell, and grace, I think you have a great chance to win. The power of God’s protection and love is an overwhelming concept to wrap your mind around because it’s limitless. You can’t cap God’s love at all, but instead, you embrace it. You live with it. You lean into it. When you start to feel that love course through you, you will feel like more than a conqueror.

So what did we learn today? We learned that we are a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind. We learned that we are a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions. We learned that we are a joint heir with Christ. We learned that we are more than a conqueror through Him who loves me.