MISTAKEN IDENTITY?

I think all of you reading this would agree that there are many pressures upon us as women - and if you're like me, it can leave you feeling buffeted and tattered by life's expectations, demands and needs. But what it all boils down to, is this question: Where do we look to find our identity? This year at the London Women's Convention, we spent the afternoon looking into what means we use to measure our value as women. The speakers took us through a range of passages of scripture to show us that we really need to be looking into God's mirror in order to assign value to who we are and what we do. There was no mention of Proverbs 31 woman at all - the woman we aspire to be yet who leaves us feeling inadequate, godless and feeble in comparison.

Graham Beynon, a church plant leader, showed how entrenched we are within the culture we live - the culture that dictates what is beautiful, valuable and acceptable. He showed us how we are so consumed by how we look and what others think of us that we lose sight of what is really important - who we really are inside. He explained from Mark 7:20-23, that though made in God's image, that image is marred and distorted by sin, but that we hide that away and convince ourselves that we are really okay, because most people don't see the sinfulness of our hearts.

Graham left us with a challenge - to accept that God accepts us by His grace, because He is gracious, not because we are worthy. Our value lies intrinsically in having a true, God-centered view of ourselves; our worth is not dictated by how well we perform at work or as a mother or wife, but by God's declaration of unconditional love for us - so deep and boundless that He sent Jesus to die for us. If we see ourselves as God sees us, we no longer need to feel insecure or unsure of who we are, or consumed by self-importance; our focus must be upon God, and what He has done and continues to do for us.

As Andrea Trevenna put it, "there are times in our lives when we're more vulnerable to listening to the deceits of our hearts, especially when we are disappointed in our relationships". She went on to explore how the ‘can't haves' or the ‘don't wants' in our lives are like the bait on the end of a fishing line - we see the bait but not the hook, and before we know it we are caught up in the deceptions of our own hearts. We listen to the pressures of the world, or the own lies of our hearts, and we make judgements about them without giving a thought to God's word. Jeremiah 17:5-9 gives a clear picture of the two ways we can live - independence on ourselves or upon God.

Jeremiah 17:5-9
"This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out is roots by the stream;
it does not fear when heat comes;
it's leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
The heart is deceitful above all things
And beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

So, what is the answer to this predicament? Be conscious of your thinking; nurture your heart in the gospel of Christ; ask yourself, ‘Who knows better what I need?' Keep coming back to the Lord, immerse yourself in His glory and grace, and trust Him, no matter what life delivers me to or from. It is all in His hands.

In the words of Jane McNabb, ‘When I'm committed to my glory, others miss out. When I'm committed to God's glory, our praise of Him is a privilege and He is glorified. We are not insignificant to Him."

So, next time you hear about the London Women's Convention, can I urge to come a long and be uplifted, encouraged and built up, to go out into the world, onto your frontline, as a woman of God who knows where her value lies?

Submitted by Claire Neal