Who Am I?

(Originally written 3/11/05)

Who are you? No, really – who are you? What defines the essence of “you”? Isn’t it funny that within minutes of meeting someone we ask them, “So, what do you do?” Being a stay-at-home-mom, I’m not entirely sure people know what to do when I answer them honestly – “Oh, I change diapers, wipe snotty noses, do dishes, read umpteen stories, make snacks, clean up various messes…”

Even that isn’t entirely true anymore. I mean, I’ve made the leap into the working world again. Go ahead, ask me. You know you wanna. “What do you do?” I moderate online message boards. But I work from home so I still do all the stay-at-home mom and wife stuff, too.

Let me ask you a question: Does it really matter what I do? Isn’t it interesting that in society we are literally defined by what we “do”? We place so much value on various professions and yet not enough on other ones. When we hear that someone is a doctor, immediately we feel a bit of respect for him or her. On the flip side, when we hear that someone works at McDonalds, we tend to place them lower on the “worthy job” totem pole.

Is our worth determined by what we do? Is a doctor somehow more worthy than a janitor? Does a lawyer’s life have more value than a waitress's? Are Firefighters and Emergency Personnel somehow more honorable and heroic than the rest of us? A doctor, a waitress and a firefighter are all in a boat in the middle of the ocean – you can only save one of them. Which do you choose?

Similarly, we chalk up and keep track of our accomplishments as if these somehow make us a better, more worthy, person. I got a 4.0 for a while in high school. The first corporate job I ever had I got straight out of high school and promoted three times in one year. I’ve been published in a few magazines. I even once had every single dish in my house completely clean. I considered eating out every meal for a week, just so I could stay on top of the darn things but Rob decided it wasn’t a “good financial decision”. Hmph.

The problem with these accomplishments is that they very quickly become things that were. The has-beens of my life. I don’t have a 4.0 anywhere anymore. The job I have now is the first paying job I’ve had since Sienna was born 6 years ago! I haven’t been published in a magazine for a year. And, alas, my dishes are no longer clean. We put entirely too much effort into what we can do and not enough into who we are.

In Exodus 3 Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush. He is desperately awed by this sight and draws closer to it. He draws nearer to the awesome site – Imagine! A bush, on fire, in the middle of the desert, yet it’s not burning up!!

He hears his name being called, “Moses! Moses!” from inside the bush, and answers “Here I am.” He humbles himself, in the obvious greatness that is God. He takes off his sandals, as instructed. God continues to speak to Moses, His voice seeming to come from inside that burning bush. He tells Moses that He has “indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.” He’s heard them crying out and He has come down to rescue them. God tells Moses to go and be God’s ambassador. Moses is to speak to Pharaoh and bring His people out of Egypt.

Moses does what any of us would, in a situation like that. “Me? You want me to do that??” In fact he says, "... Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'”.

And Moses questions further – “Ok, I’ll go – but what if, after I tell the Israelites that You sent me, they ask me your name? What do I tell them??”

At this point God could’ve really made a list of His accomplishments, couldn’t He? God could have answered, “My name?? Tell them The Almighty God – Creator of heaven and earth and all things living sent you!” But we serve a God that does not define himself by all that He has done. He doesn’t need to hand in His resume and a list of references. Instead He chooses to answer Moses with these words:

God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am' has sent me to you. Exodus 3:14 (NIV)

God does not define Himself but what he does, rather by who He is. He does not boast of His accomplishments, nor does He measure His worth by what He has done. He just simply IS.

Perhaps we should take a lesson. Let us not be defined by our profession and our jobs. Leave behind the letters behind your name, they mean nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven. Your worthiness is not measured by what you do for other people. The amount of money in your bank account means nothing. Any title you give yourself pales in comparison to the one you have already been given.

Instead, measure your worth by the fact that Jesus Christ died for you. Define yourself differently. After all, you are a Child of God.