Follow Grace_For_Life on Twitter

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

How Can You Not Know Who You Are?

A favorite movie character of mine is Jason Bourne (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, etc.).  He's this highly trained super-agent assassin, chosen by a secret arm of the Government for already being an amazing guy, then trained to be even more amazing by a brainwashing project that turns him into almost a machine.

In The Bourne Identity, although the project has ended, Bourne retains his new machine-like abilities, but is unable to recall who he really is, or even that he is someone other than Jason Bourne (a phony name given to him by the project).  He searches for his true "identity".  I won't tell you what happens :)

At one point in the movie Jason laments as follows:

"I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside.

I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself.

I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

Now why would I know that?

How can I know that and not know who I am?"

Did you catch that last line?

Are you a Christian who has all kinds of amazing things about you, but you don't know who you are in Christ?

I can hear you say,

"I know my Bible better than anyone in my family, I know 75 Christian songs by heart, I know I've been saved for 10 years, I know the routine of my church service like the back of my hand because I go there three times a week, I know 500 Bible verses by memory, I know all the basic doctrines of the Christian faith!

How can I know that and not know who I am?"

Just a reminder, friend, if you are a born-again Christian, here is who you are...

http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm

3 comments:

natser said...

. . . a born again Christian? So you can be a Christian and not born again?

Terry Rayburn said...

1. No.

2. Since Jesus said you must be born again to be a real Christian, it's a handy term to distinguish from "almost everybody" in some countries who *call* themselves Christians.

3. This adds the complication that many also say they're "born again", per several polls, when it's fairly evident that they are not. But that's another issue :)

Graeme said...

I read a book recently in which the author says that many Christians have identity amnesia. I agree. It is when we come to understand who we are in Christ that we begin to really appreciate the grace of God. What motivates us more to live for God? Thinking about oneself as a sinner or a saint ( one set apart from sin unto God)? The latter is that which inspires me to live a life of pleasing him who loves me.