Do You Know Who I Am?

It is a question asked by people who believe they are so important that they deserve special treatment. They expect waiters, receptionists, and — well, anyone in a position to help them — to make them the highest priority. They do not want to wait their turn, they do not want to be told No, and they think the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to them. They may think this because they have a position of status. They may be rich, or they may be a powerful person. They have developed a sense of entitlement that leads them to believe they are not like everyone else. They are Special … or at least that is what they think.

So imagine how Jesus could have felt. The son of God reigning on his throne in heaven. Every creature worshipping him. The entire world created by him and his Father. They looked down at the earth they had created and saw what a mess it was. Man had made so many wrong choices; choices that separated us from God. So God asked his son to come down where we were and fix it. He asked him to show us how to live, die so our sins could be forgiven, and to show the way back to God.

So he did. But he did not do it the way most of us would have. The Creator of the Universe was born in a barn among a bunch of animals. He grew up in an ordinary family in a no-name village. His closest followers were ordinary, uneducated people. He washed dirty feet. He let some of the very people he came to save hang him on a cross.

Most amazing of all is that he invites us to know him. Even more, he invites us to become part of his family. He wants us to become his adopted brothers and sisters. He has made it possible for us to live forever in heaven with him.

Do you know who I am? Jesus never asks that question as a way to exert power or to boost his own ego. He asks it as a promise. He asks it as a gift of love. He asks it as an invitation.

I can help you take him up on that invitation. Write me at steve@hopeforlife.org. Or join the blog discussion at www.hopeforlife.org.