In any 12-Step Program we learn to profess who we are by saying, “My name is _____, and I am a/an ______.” This confession doesn’t begin to have the profound impact it should until later in the program, because the first several weeks you address the “what” before digging into the “who.” Therefore the ultimate question is not “what” but “who.” We’re all about the “what,” our entire lives are consumed with it.
What if we could shift that obsession of “what” to a pursuit “who” and in that pursuit we discover real purpose? To understand “who” we really need a reality about the “what.”
What We Were
…God created the heavens and the earth…Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So created man in his own image, in the image of god he created him, male and female he created them.” — Genesis 1.1, 26-27
God created us to be “imagers” of himself. God is spirit and cannot be seen, so he created mankind as beings who could be his physical representation to the visible cosmos. This is known as the principle of agency and it is found all throughout the Bible, “the one who is sent is as the sender himself.” From this we learn who we are created to be, agents of the One True God.
Consider nations and kingdoms today. If America sends a diplomat, ambassador or representative to another nation with a message, it is as if that person were the President himself. He is not THE President of The United States but an agent of the President who has been granted authority to act on behalf of America and the President.
What We Become
But what happens if that agent is tricked or deceived into committing treason, betraying his country’s trust? They would be considered an enemy of the state, a rebel, rogue, “off the rails” and a traitor. They’re still an agent, but allegiances have changed, they revere no authority but their own and they are loyal to no one but themselves. They go on the run and into hiding, seeking to preserve their lives at any cost, ultimately hoping to outwit or out maneuver former alliances now turned enemy and ultimately conquer those who are out to destroy them.
Sound familiar? This scenario is played out on the big screen in every James Bond movie and Tom Clancy type thriller that Hollywood produces but here’s the original storyline;
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” — Genesis 3.1-8
Through this one “what” humanity has become subject to the penalty due to all traitors, rebels and individuals who commit treason. DEATH!! “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…many died through one man’s trespass…because of one man’s trespass, death reigned.” (Romans 5.12,15,17)
In our original condition we were to bring bring glory and honor to God. As “imagers” of God we were already as much “like God” as is possible for a created being. If this state had been maintained (through obedience), we would have had access to the “Tree of Life” and lived forever but that was not the case.
What We Are
We still bear the image of God but despite our “eyes having been opened” there is a blindness that has occurred resulting in a change of heart. Our loyalties no longer lie with our Creator rather we become the “creators” of our own belief structure wherein we differentiate the good and bad. We believe we know what is most delightful and our wisdom becomes supreme. (Have you ever met anything who didn’t think they were the smartest person in the room?) This is what we find in the text, “the fruit was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that [it] was to be desired to make one wise.”
Think about those things that motivate us, those “whats.” The desire to be a “good” and “wise” parents. The need to feel validation and recognition at work, those “good” titles. How about those tasks or hobbies that we find “delight” in. As innocent as they seem these are all meager attempts at creating an empire, a kingdom for ourselves, leaving a legacy, a lasting impression, an immortal mark on earth that says, “I was here” because the way of man is death and we know it.
No matter how much we may believe our motivation is pure, for the sake of “my kids, my spouse, my co-workers, my employees, my friends, etc.” the underlying motive is always selfish. This is not due to some innate, inherited “original sin/sin nature” concept whereby we are not able to do otherwise, rather it is habitual. We develop habits of self-preservation which are inevitably sinful in nature and it becomes difficult to do otherwise. In the Genesis account we see how the progression of this ideal unfolded.
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it…
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 4.7; 6.5; 11.4
Recovery programs are meant to awaken the sense of guilt and shame, and they bring those senses to bare upon an individual in a life changing manner at times. Associated with these feelings is the individual’s belief that “I can’t do anything about it…I can’t help it….this is who I am and will always be…I can’t change…It’ll never be different…etc.” In the mind of the individual is the belief system that they have no choice. Choice has been suppressed. This belief system has to be challenged and the freedom of choice restored before any change can take place.
“Its desire is contrary to (for) you, but you must rule over it.”
Sin has a desire. That desire is us and when we choose to sin we succumb to that desire ultimately choosing self over every and anything else. The mind/heart becomes fashioned by this initial choice until all sense of choice is lost and it takes on the clinical characteristics of addiction which has the primary indicator of being selfish, looking out for number one.
“The thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually.”
In Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9 we read “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (wicked); who can understand it?” The intriguing thing is we don’t even know how selfish we are. Even the “purest motives” when broken down are based on the desire of ourselves. I believe this is driven by the fact of mortality. Everyone is going to die and nobody wants to.
“let us make a name for ourselves,…”
Proverbs 11.2 and 16.18 read as follows, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom…Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” There can be no greater pride than the desire to “make a name for yourself” to “be somebody.” We’re not content just to be, we need to be the best, the greatest. You’re not just the dad you’re the “greatest” dad, it says so on your coffee cup. My wife’s shirt says she’s the “best” and I didn’t even buy it for her. You’re not just a mom but a “Soccer Mom” and your students are not plain and ordinary but they are “Honor Students.”
We’re so self-absorbed we teach it to our children so that they can be just as self-absorbed as we are. It is learned from our interactions and conversations with others and the underlying attitudes and motives behind them. We are not who we want to be, most will confess this, but it doesn’t keep us from trying become who we want to be and therein lies the problem.
Pride, arrogance and selfishness result in blindness and ignorance to “what” we are and this feeds the desire to be who WE want to be. What we are is in rebellion against God. We have committed high treason against the Creator and Sustainer of all live. We presume to think that “we got this” whatever this is and we know what’s what.
“What” is the Problem
Dr: “That’s correct.”
Patient: “What’s correct?”
Dr: “Yes, what is the problem.”
Patient: “I’m asking you.”
Dr: “I told you.”
Patient: “You told me what.”
Dr: “That’s correct.”
There is a way to break this cycle, this rut we get in. It’s not easy and anyone who says otherwise is peddling a false hope. It requires submission and sacrifice, SELF sacrifice, crucifying the “old man” (a metaphor). Faith, belief and trust are not passive concepts, they are action words. They are like a car key, it requires more than just a key to drive a car.
In this post I’ve unpacked a few things about “what we are.” In the following weeks we’ll continue with this “identity” concept attempting to learn “who we are.”
Those Who Can't 