₦airaland Forum

How do you define who you are? I mean, if someone asks you, "Who are you," what would you tell them? Some folks immediately answer with their job title, some folks answer with where they live or what they own. Some folks answer with a family history or connection to a father or mother.

Personally I have never had more than a passing interest in where I came from in this world. I knew that one side of my family came from Kentucky and the other side immigrated from Germany 150 years or so in the past. I really do understand that knowing the genealogy of your family is very important to lots of folks. It gives them a connection with the past and in someway helps them define who they are.

I can appreciate that connection perhaps a little more of late. My mother shared some information searched out by a cousin about our family genealogy on the Lawson side. It seems that many years ago some of the family immigrated from Scotland. It just so happens that we have a friend who lives in Scotland and in casual conversation he told us that all of the Lawson's originated from a small village on the coast that was founded by Vikings. I got a chuckle out of that picturing myself kind of like Hagar the Horrible, but somehow it made me feel a connection with those explorers of past generations.

I also found out that one of my great, great uncles on the German side died with Custer at Little Bighorn. Does knowing these things help explain or define who I am? No, not really, but it's interesting to know a little about our ancestors.

As I look at our world and our lives, I have decided that who you are is really defined by what you do with your life and how you touch others. That is much more important than where you came from, your job title, where you went to school or what you own.

Jesus gave us some insight concerning "real life" in Luke 12:15 where he said, "Beware! Real life is not measured by how much we own." Then he went on tell the story of a farmer who defined his life by his successful farm. The farmer said, "I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy.'"

Jesus tells us this story doesn't have a happy ending, though much of the world doesn't understand the reasoning. In verses 20-21 Jesus says, "But God said to him, You fool, tonight I will take your soul from you, and all the things that you have collected, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for the man who stores up wealth for himself, but is not rich in what matters to God."

In this world it is very likely that you may loose our job, your home, your health or you life-mate at sometime. How will you define yourself or how will you find the strength to go on if these are the defining things which tell who you are? We need to have something stronger in our lives if we want to be able to survive all that the world throws at us. The writer of Hebrews gives us a little insight into this in Hebrews 6:9, writing about our ability to trust God. He says, "This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls".

What will sustain you and define who you are? The old hymn asks the question,


Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift of firm remain.
Chorus:

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Stead fast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love."