Who Am I?
Wednesday April 13, 2016
Who am I? Who do I say I am? Who do others say I am? Who does God say I am? What difference does it make what anyone says about who I am?
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:36-39 NIV)
The woman clearly had a bad reputation in the community. We’re told she lived a sinful life. How bad is our reputation? How much of the ugliness in our thoughts and actions do others know about? What would they think if they did know? One of the challenges of our life with God in recovery is coming to terms with who we are and what we’ve done, and what it means for us to live life now before God and others, in an honest transparent way. Are we just setting ourselves up for failure?
This woman’s generous action, filled with gratitude and love, in the light of her past sinfulness, can teach us a lot. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus is all about forgiveness and new life. Jesus’ death and resurrection opened up a way to relationship with God which was previously closed because of sin. This woman demonstrated great love because she knew, her sins which were many, had been forgiven. Do we acknowledge all that we have been forgiven? Today is a great time to come to God with all of our baggage and receive the forgiveness God has provided through Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)
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