WE WERE MADE FOR MORE (11 OF 17)
by Tim Badal
Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-32
This content is part of a series.
We Were Made for More (11 of 17)
Series: WHO AM I?
Tim Badal
Ephesians 4:25-32
Grab your Bibles and turn to the book of Ephesians. We've been in this series titled "Who Am I?" and are asking this fundamental, foundational question about our very existence. What defines me? How do I identify myself? We've come to realize there are a lot of opinions about how we are to go about defining and identifying ourselves. The world tells us there are four ways we can identify ourselves.
- First, we can be identified by our status-our job, what we do for a living, our place in life.
- Still others say we're defined by the stuff we have-our possessions, the things we've acquired. That's what tells the world who we are.
- Still others say it's our skin color, our ethnicity, maybe where we find our homeland. That's how we identify ourselves, who we are.
- Still others-and this is a new phenomenon-say it's through our sexual orientation: who I'm attracted to, what inclinations I may have.
All of these, the Bible says, are faulty ways to identify who you really are. The Bible uses two identifiers in an either/or proposition. The first way you can identify yourself is to define yourself around you. You are living life; you are the captain of your vessel. You are the one who determines what you do, when you do it, how you do it, making that decision based on what pleases you, fills you and moves you from point A to point B. You are in many ways the sun of the universe. You are that which all your life orbits around.
The Bible says we learn that from our forefather Adam. Paul uses this phrase over and over again, "You are in Adam." That is, you identify yourself with the thinking Adam had. Adam had a relationship with God. He had everything he could ask for or imagine in the garden of Eden. But at the first opportunity, he made a decision to get rid of God and determine that he was the god of his universe. Whatever he longed for, whatever he desired, that wa ...
Series: WHO AM I?
Tim Badal
Ephesians 4:25-32
Grab your Bibles and turn to the book of Ephesians. We've been in this series titled "Who Am I?" and are asking this fundamental, foundational question about our very existence. What defines me? How do I identify myself? We've come to realize there are a lot of opinions about how we are to go about defining and identifying ourselves. The world tells us there are four ways we can identify ourselves.
- First, we can be identified by our status-our job, what we do for a living, our place in life.
- Still others say we're defined by the stuff we have-our possessions, the things we've acquired. That's what tells the world who we are.
- Still others say it's our skin color, our ethnicity, maybe where we find our homeland. That's how we identify ourselves, who we are.
- Still others-and this is a new phenomenon-say it's through our sexual orientation: who I'm attracted to, what inclinations I may have.
All of these, the Bible says, are faulty ways to identify who you really are. The Bible uses two identifiers in an either/or proposition. The first way you can identify yourself is to define yourself around you. You are living life; you are the captain of your vessel. You are the one who determines what you do, when you do it, how you do it, making that decision based on what pleases you, fills you and moves you from point A to point B. You are in many ways the sun of the universe. You are that which all your life orbits around.
The Bible says we learn that from our forefather Adam. Paul uses this phrase over and over again, "You are in Adam." That is, you identify yourself with the thinking Adam had. Adam had a relationship with God. He had everything he could ask for or imagine in the garden of Eden. But at the first opportunity, he made a decision to get rid of God and determine that he was the god of his universe. Whatever he longed for, whatever he desired, that wa ...
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