Article 1 - An awareness of ourselves

By Anthea Taljaard

One of the greatest challenges that man faces is to discover his own identity.   Who are we?  Where do we come from? Where do we ultimately belong?  Centuries of philosophy have been birthed around these questions, whole theories and behavioral practices have evolved to try and answer it. 

Society is filled with people working hard at establishing their identity, whether through religion, (Catholic, or Muslim) culture, ( I’m European, you’re African) education; (that master’s degree that qualifies me)  achievement, (I’m an actor or accountant), family status, (being born on the right side of the street) social networking( the clubs and groups I belong to)  and the like.  Each of these positions aims to place us uniquely somewhere, a place of belonging, a structure or fabric where we fit, that is made up of likeminded people, likeminded values, and is a place where we feel at home.

In some cases,  with all the busyness of building this identity and fitting in’ individuals don’t get to take stock of life and really discover themselves due to the sheer pressure of all this achievement and drive.  We’re too busy being somebody, or something, a teenager, a doctor, a housewife.   We race though life with little time for reflection and often only become challenged in later years by deaths, illnesses and stressful situations, which give us pause and force us to get to grips with some of the deeper issues of our lives on this planet and our identity.

At times like these we often hear of people reevaluating their lives and values under changing circumstances  and finally, “coming to an awareness of themselves.”

We have to ask ourselves -  what does this mean?   An awareness of ourselves…

In business, and in our psychological assessments we talk about ‘knowing ourselves’; this is usually a reference to our good and bad points, ‘our strengths and our development areas’,   whether they be character traits, or behaviors or habits.  We have ‘balanced scorecards’ and ‘roundtable dialogues’ with peers and management to highlight and build on all our great qualities, as well as collectively try and address our faults.

But my question to you is this… Is this really all it is about? 

Is it only about taking what exists in the human being and evolving him/her into something better.  If so, then this begs the next question… what is better? What is ultimate?    What does a great human being look like? What is the purpose of a great human being?

I don’t believe the answer to this is hidden to us, but I do think it takes a moment’s concentration to understand that we may need to look past our current experience and background, and consider that we may have a very unique origin and purpose, that is not based on our background and efforts.  We may need to consider that there is something/someone else that accounts for the origin of man and that someone is responsible for your identity – a family, a place of belonging that goes beyond natural genealogy.  That the answer to your identity does not exist in the physical world, but rather in the spiritual.

So take a moment with me and consider the following:

Imagine a simple love story from long, long, ago that highlights and brings home your value.  Love stories always begin with “Long, long time ago…” and this one does too – right back to before time even began.

It starts in the garden of Eden as ‘a love story.’ This love story speaks of the creation of man, created male and female, created specifically for companionship.  Their own companionship; and the companionship of their Maker. 

We all consciously recognize that God has existed from the beginning, but what we often don’t realize is that he wanted companionship.  The garden of Eden was more than just a historic record of the creation of man.  It is also the acknowledgment that God wanted a friend, not just anyone, but someone of equal standing  - someone of His own image and likeness, someone with whom he could be comfortable, fit with, be with.  A companion who could accommodate his heart and mind.  A companion that he could walk with and share his thoughts with.

You see there is no purpose to having a friend or a companion if you cannot share each other’s thoughts and talk to each other.  You might as well buy a goldfish and a bowl in that case. It is an unequal companionship and it ultimately does not satisfy…  Can you imagine pouring out your heart and soul to your ‘guppy’ every evening?  For friendship to be meaningful you need a companion who is compatible.

So, as a Creator, the Maker of the universe and in order to secure the quality of this companionship, to make sure that it would satisfy Him,  God made man as His companion.  Genesis 1:26 tells us this.  He made us in His own image and likeness. Spoke us into being and breathed life into us.  An identity established from a mutual need to belong and fit with our Creator. 

If we can be so bold - God saw us as His other half.

So consider with me for a moment - exactly what this identity means…  If this is true, and we’re made in His Image and likeness,  then as humans we fit God.  And, if we fit God, we’re able to accommodate his thoughts, we are able to respond to his heart and His love, and our lives might be just a little more valuable than we first thought.   Now I know what is happening right now, your heart is jumping and responding, yes, but, your mind is reeling – it seems too good to be true. 

Don’t worry about that for now  - keep reading. 

The next part of the love story is the familiar bit, enter the villain…

We all know historically that the devil in the form of the serpent made Eve eat the apple and that collectively the human race then fell into disgrace.  Human beings became subject to death, subject to illness, hatred and all the stuff that goes with being ‘fallen’.  We know that man then ran and hid from the voice of God.  The voice of God calling out to him was no longer a welcome voice that encouraged and inspired man’s easy approach.  Rather it frightened, man’s lack of reserve was destroyed ,  replaced by suspicion and guilt, and suddenly distance not companionship became the norm with dealing with God.

This is often where most of us in the human race we find ourselves in our thinking.  Making the best of a bad situation, trying our best to change and improve ourselves as individuals, and make the most of our lives… After all, no one can blame us  - this is how we were born and the legacy we come with.  So we build on our strengths and try and improve our weaknesses.   Day by day.

But this wouldn’t be a true love story if it didn’t have a happy ending, so enter Our Prince…

And here is where I really get excited.  The birth and subsequent death and resurrection of Jesus represent more than just a historic account of a man.   Let us cast our minds back to God’s original intention in creating mankind.  He had in mind a human being as his companion, someone that could enjoy blameless, unfettered interaction with Himself.  The fall of man destroyed this and challenged the identity of man - humans were shown to be flawed.  The only way for God to successfully redeem man and bring him back to himself was to reverse the effects of the fall.  He has to overcome death not as God but as a man in order to prove the design of man. He has to become a man.  (Incarnation)

So He sends Jesus  - His Son, born of God , the Image of God and makes him a man, born of Mary, living on this same planet just like us.  Jesus is subject to the challenges of every day as we are, but deals with it in the light of His identity and knowing God’s plan with man.  Jesus had no problems with understanding His identity – he asks the disciples often  - “Who do you say I am?” and he is not looking for the ever so obvious answer, “well, you’re our local carpenter”.  BUT rather, you are Jesus,  Son of God…we’re looking at you in a man’s body.   There is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. 

Now hear me carefully on this point,  if the fall was powerful enough to represent the human race in Adam and create a negative impact big enough to affect everyone on the planet,  past, present and future, then the cross is only effective if it can do more than this.  Wow – do you get that? The recreation of man had to have more impact than the creation of man. One is the shadow, the other is the substance – the real deal. Jesus had to restore more than Adam lost.

Jesus death was of no real value if it was only for himself, he had to represent the entire human race, past, present and future (just as Adam did) and he HAD to conquer death so as to restore us.  The value of his representation is that He represents our identity,   as the companions of God, made in the image and likeness of God.  Remember He comes from before the creation of the world - He represents man as he was originally created to be.  With the resurrection complete He prepared a place for us again with our Father, our Maker so that we could be where He is. A place that is higher than any other, as He conquered everything, including death.

So who are you? What is your identity today?  What is your purpose in the light of this amazing love story?  You are born of more than natural lineage.  You are born of above - We’re children of God, born of God, released to live victorious, fulfilled lives on this earth, we’re restored as the companions of God to have fellowship with our Maker.

And in taking up this birthright,  we fulfill our destinies and ultimately understand the question, “Who am I, and what is the meaning of my life.”  You get to know God as He has always known you.  You get to be able to walk and talk with Him again, His companion and friend.   Enjoy.

If this article interests you – please feel free to contact me at anthea@contactsolutions.co.za and I will gladly correspond with you.