Part 1: I Have a Chosen Personality
A while back, a pastor asked me if I would do a series for a group of leaders from a number of churches in the Atlanta area. He said, “Would you just answer this question - ‘Am I enough?’ Men don't know how to say it, but they think it all the time. Am I enough? Do I have to bluff, and act, and power up, and position myself because I'm not convinced that I am enough.” And so, I did a five-session series based on that question: Am I enough?
Each session started with the letter “C” - I was so impressed with myself!
I have a chosen personality.
I have been completely changed.
I have received a changeless love.
I am being continually renewed.
I am constantly forgiven.
And I believe if we can grab hold of these, if we believe these and put our trust in them, we would be able to answer the question and say, “I am enough. God has made me more than enough.” And it would change the way we parent, it would change our hope, it would change the things we fail at, it would change how we approached the heart issues, and it would change how people get the best of us.
So, from what I understand, March has five weeks in it — that’s one week for each of the five sessions — so, would you go along with me? I'm so excited for men, women, kids… I think to look at these five truths, and to hold on to them and the passages that surround them… it will change… no, it will transform our lives.
So today, our topic is I have a chosen personality.
All my life, I wrote:
“I've been longing to be convinced that who I actually am is truly and completely wanted.”
So, this topic of having a chosen personality has been the hardest one for me to grab hold of.
A lot of us think we're just kind of crowd filler - with nothing unique or distinctive or interesting about us — we're just kinda… here. Or we think we're a failure, or that we're a mistake, or that maybe we were of value but we’ve lost that value.
And so the Psalmist says these words that I love so much: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” Psalm 139:2-3 (NASB)
I used to not like those words because I used to think that they meant that God was watching me, studying me so that He could make me pay for my failures. That's when I saw the Scriptures through the lens of moralism. But now He says, “John, these are love words. I'm the only One who thinks about you all day long and is acquainted with everything — intimately acquainted with everything about you, because I adore you and because I want to know everything about you. I made you. I think about you all the time. I love you so much.”
In verse five, it tells us, “You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5 (NASB)
He puts His hand on me, and He keeps it on me.
I think it's over my heart. I think it’s there to say, “Kid, I knew from before the world began who you would be, and I knew what you would go through. I’ve got you, and you are more than enough.”
Later, the Psalmist says that he doesn't even know what to do with it all, it’s just all so wonderful. He says, “I was wonderfully made in my inward parts, and you knew about my days before they happened.” God knew about this day. He knew the things that were coming up, hard things, the crises, the scary and the wonderful… and He adores me. And He says, “I've got it, John. I will make no mistakes with you. The sands in the seas can't even contain My thoughts towards you.”
God thinks about you all the time. Isn’t that crazy?!
It’s incredible to me when I think about how He made me — the fact that I've got cowlicks all the way across the top of my head, that my feet turn out… I've got all these things about me where I need to be protected and cared for, and yet He says, “John, I wanted you on this planet, at this unique time; the way you see, the way you think, the way your heart works, your humor, all of it is for this particular moment in time, for a particular group of people.” Isn’t that incredible?! And it’s the same for you — there is no crowd filler in this.
Join me next week where we’ll talk about how we’ve been completely changed. I'm so excited to be on this journey with you!
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