Like a lot of Australian men I have struggled with identity issues and inferiority for most of my life. The question, Who am I? can be a troubling question for many people and one that when answered brings great stability to us.
There can be many reasons why we have no idea who we are….most of the reasons remain hidden from us for many years. No matter what our upbringing was like, our family tree, our relationships, the fact remains we either have a root in ourselves or we do not. We cannot change the past. We cannot fix ourselves but God can!
Mat 13:5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. Mat 13:6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
Mat 13:20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; Mat 13:21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Jesus is describing the person who has no root in himself. When the hot sun of tribulation comes against their lives they stumble. To stumble means to be offended. Tribulation means pressure or stress or narrowness. So without having any depth or root in ourselves we find that we cannot handle pressure or stress for very long. Our lives will be littered with many broken relationships for when the going gets tough we cave in or get offended.
We find that we quit jobs very easily for the same reasons. We leave churches, clubs and social groups because we cannot handle the stresses that often happen when many different personalities are mixed together. We even get offended with ourselves which leads to depression and self loathing. We may find because of having no root in us that we end up very lonely and isolated. What is it like to have a root in oneself?
This is a very powerful thing. In fact it is so very important that even as I write this, I am feeling excited at the deliverance it can bring to many people like me.
Without having a root in oneself we live a detached life. We present a false persona which we are convinced is who we really are. We have lived this detached life for so long….to us there is no other me. The me I want you to see…..Is that the real me?
A root connects a plant above the soil to the life below the soil. If the root is only shallow then when the heat comes it cannot survive long. But if we have no root at all as Jesus was saying above….then what hope have we of drawing life from within.
And that is my point here. Life within!
If a plant has no roots then it must get water and food through it’s leaves. Some plants can do this well. But normally most plants develop a healthy deep root system to connect them with the life giving water and nutrients below the soil. For us this is speaking about living from our new identity in Christ.
Christ Himself is the Life Who is in us. He is our true identity and nature. There is no lack in Him, no sin in Him, no imperfection in Him whatsoever. This is our new nature! Wonderful!
Yet even though this is the situation and reality for all born again people, still we are like the ones in the parable who do not endure under pressure. Why?
It is because in our deep mind we are not attached to the person we are in the Spirit.
The self talk that we have listened to and replayed over and over to ourselves defeats us and keeps us living detached from Him. Now please understand that when I say detached from Him…I am meaning detached from yourself! Jesus is your new self!! This is what scripture teaches us.
Gal 2:20, 1Cor 6:17, 1John 4:17, John 17:11, 20-23, Col 3:1-4 and many other verses teach us that Christ is our nature , our life, our person, us! We are still us, but we are Him and He is us. This is the life source we need to be rooted to. We are not two separate people with the outer person trying to live for God….but we are ONE person within and the outer is to reveal this oneness.
And that is what the Holy Spirit is doing in each of us….He is bringing us to an awareness of our inner nature…so that the detached soul that has been pretending to be something, can rest in the knowledge of His/Our perfection just as we are.
It is not that we intentionally pretend to be someone, we are not in touch with our inner nature, so are forced to find our identity in the things we do. The things we do, our hobbies, job, family, interests cannot give us any “depth of being” at all. These are shallow surface things. We need to connect with what is below the surface, inside us.
Becoming rooted in Christ Who is our own new nature and person is God’s goal for all of us. This is not self improvement…this is an accepting of Christ as our only righteousness. All forms of trying to become a better you, are a denial of the perfect you that you already are. We turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face…where? In us….even us ourselves!! Christ in you is the hope of glory….and we preach Him…Christ in us..so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
To go on living as if you are a plant with no attachment to anything good inside you is a certain road to more barrenness. A problem for many who have faith in Jesus is that we have been taught “we have a sinful heart that cannot be trusted”. This is the opposite of the truth! We have a new nature which is Jesus Christ Himself. He is the goodness in us…and more…He is actually us! This is the New Covenant….God puts a new spirit within us and takes out the heart of flesh and stone.
You are filled with all goodness and mercy for your life is hid with Christ in God. We can stop pretending to be what we think other people want us to be once we see that we are perfectly acceptable to God. We can stop trying to improve ourselves as well. Jesus is my heart, my spirit…He is my perfection and my righteousness DESPITE what is going on above the soil. My root goes down into Him…I draw life from Him…Who is me..my spirit man…my inner man.
The soul once connected by the renewing of the deep mind now displays the personality of Jesus Himself…yet it is still you.
Have a root in yourself. Accept your new nature as the real you and ask God to show you this more and more. Peace will saturate your life as you rest in the deep pool of Love that you are.
UPDATE:- 4th Jan 2016. Further understanding needed!
About a month ago the Lord got my attention by the depth of troubles all around and within. Now I could have thought at the time that the tribulation I was encountering was a test to see whether I would hold to the above word.
But I realised that the above word was incomplete, and now reading it again I realise that there are reasons WHY I CANNOT connect with the source properly…WHY I have not been able to have enduring faith.
That reason is that there are strongholds in my soul and ground taken in my spirit, bruises, woundings, vows made, iniquities of the forefathers, sins cherished and held onto and a whole host of other things that qualify as grave clothes from the old life that still affect me me and dominate me in areas.
That is why I have been writing and exploring this whole area of hardened earth and asking God to plough up the ground that the roots and stones of iniquity, shame, pride and unforgiveness would be loosened, recognised and pulled out.
Simply saying that Jesus is our righteousness Who dwells as one with our spirit does not dislodge the roots of the shadow man that have remained undetected or unmoved since birth, or at least since the woundings of the past.