The World and the Word in Me

 “Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ.” Blaise Pascal

I have been on the mission of finding myself in the world. 

I have stopped.

I have stated before that in the process of coming to the Lord, I had in essence developed an identity crisis. I was Mariya, the culturally Muslim Afghan girl at home with my family and friends, while serving Christ away from their sight. There was a very clear and distinct line that separated these two identities between culture and faith. In my seeking mind, Christ could not be found where I came from, nor could He be worshiped there. Since being in Kansas City, these two worlds have been reconciled. I did not find Christ outside my Afghan Muslim culture, He was always there. My culture and my faith collided in the most beautiful and thrilling way that finally allowed me to be free in Christ.  But this is not my God given identity. My outlook has changed. 

What is this new insight? Culture, family, opinions of others, experiences, and even looking within myself have shaped me in relation to who I am in the world and to the world, but it is not my God given identity. All these are drenched in sin, including what is within me, for “I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2) By looking only at God, and building my knowledge of HIM and who HE is, He becomes a reflection of who I am becoming in His eyes.

Why is this understanding crucial in my mission with the Lord? Only when we find our true identity in God can we by God’s grace fulfill God’s plan for us. If Christ said that we have to lose ourselves (to the world) to find ourselves (In Him), then why was I looking for myself in the world!!?? 

In Harley Talman's article “Be Like” and “Remain Like," he explained “Remain Like” to mean for believers to “remain in the condition in which he was called.” New believers and churches are to be encouraged to “remain within their own original social and cultural environments, instead of adopting another.”  This was an understanding that I only came to know since moving to Kansas City, and it was this misconception that contributed to my so-called “identity crisis” as a new believer. I understand this issue of “remain like” as pleasing to the Lord, since He desires people from all tongues, nations, and cultures to worship Him in a vibrant way! This magnifies His glory, therefore, when Western missionaries enforce “their” Western worldview of Christianity upon new community of believers, they are in fact robbing God of His glory!

However, even after knowing this, here is my new point of revelation. Although we must stay within the cultural-social context that “we each have been called to,” we must also remember that our God given identity is ONLY attained and understood by increasing our knowledge and obedience to Him!! Culture is rooted in creation and embedded within the fabric of each of our identities, but at the end of the day, regardless of the fact that we have different cultural-social frameworks, our hearts in Christ are all the same, unified in Him, towards one God, one kingdom, for His glory. Even though we come from completely different circumstances and multitudes of variables that shape each one of us, we are still walking and living within and for the SAME image of Christ. He is the same to you, to me and to all of His seeking children.

Because culture is constantly shifting and changing, and because of this constant change, we truly can not have a grasp of who we are and what we will become. In essence, we are always chasing after an identity that is attached to a rapidly changing world and culture. However, by resting in Christ you are given assurance since Christ is the same, then, now and forever.  

The compromise of the Word and the World in shaping and nurturing our God given identities is this: Theologian John Stott calls it “dual listening.” He says that we “stand between the Word and the world with consequent obligation to listen to both. We listen to the Word in order to discover even more of the riches of Christ. And we listen to the world in order to discover which of Christ’s riches are needed most and how to present them in their best light.” When it comes to the task of shaping identity, dual listening is a necessity. We must know our world in order to bring the light of the Word to bear on it. Remember the words of Paul, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" Romans 12:2

 C.S Lewis said it so perfectly: “Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? .....The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. .......Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” - C.S Lewis

 The relentless pursuit of finding oneself in the world is an unattainable task that keeps our eyes on the world and not at the heart of God and His Word. I have stopped searching for who I am in the world, but the same search continues, but now IN God.  I can only be found in Him. That identity however is not just simply given! Rather, we must pursue it! How do you do that? Through an everlasting pursuit of God; a desperate hunger to grow in the knowledge of Him. 

We seek the will of God in our lives. Interesting enough, I now also believe that this pursuit of finding our identities in relation to our knowledge of God IS in actuality, our will!!! Each of our tasks may be different, but our purpose is the same. Maybe, God's will for each one of us is not about "what," but "who." Who we are and who we become in Christ. Thinking back to the spiritual development of the disciples, it is clear to see how their identities transformed in the most powerful of ways. We are first presented in the Bible with dis-believing disciples with identities very much attached to the world. The knowledge of Christ, His teachings and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we see their God given identities come to life, empowering them, and transforming them in radical ways, even to the point of death. God's will therefore for each of the disciples was not merely about "what" they would do to advance the gospel, but an emphasis about "who" they would become.  "Who" they became as obedient and faithful followers of Christ was the power that fueled the advance of the Great Commission. Remember that God was entrusting a few select men to carry His message of salvation to the world!!!