Who Are You?

“Who are you?” is a compelling question. Compelling for so many different reasons. On the one hand our relationships might determine our answer. You might be someone’s beloved wife or trophy husband. You might be the oldest son, or the newest employee. Other times it is not relationship but actions. I am a hero, a coward, a fool, an explorer, or maybe just ordinary. It turns out that both and many other facets do actually help describe who we are, and yet they fall short of exhaustively capturing the essence of  us.
 
Particularly challenging is the fact that who we are changes. While some things will always be true, (I am my mother’s son) other things are quite in flux. In fact, it is not nonsensical to hear something like: “That is who I used to be but am no longer that person.” “I used to be,” “I am,” and “I will be,” all speak to the relative flexibility of our very identity. This is precisely why Paul wanted to remind the church in Colosse who they were.
 

It is all too easy to have our identity hijacked and led astray by false philosophies and human traditions. The Colossians were being deceived to believe they were inadequate unless…. They were being led to define themselves by religion that was disconnected from Christ. They were being bamboozled into false “spiritual” knowledge. They were letting all of that speak into and change who they were. But Paul called them back, back to their truest self. 

Paul’s letter to the Colossians has so much application for us today. We are, in our identity, pulled here and there by everything from politics, style of clothing, even the cars we drive. But our truest self, the God’s workmanship one, finds its identity in Christ. It is only with Christ as the starting place and the ending place for our identity, that we can know we are on the right track.
 

This week we will explore Colossians 2 – 3:5 and discover the source of our truest self, and you can answer the most important facet of the question “Who are you?”

See you at church.

Pastor Chris Henderson