My best friend has known me since 2nd grade. She is deeply aware of almost all aspects of my life thus far, including the fact that for years I have had a strong dislike for onions. She will deliberately avoid putting onions in dishes she prepares for me, and to this day will even puree her famous chunky salsa for me so that I won’t have to acknowledge that I am eating big hunks of that reviled vegetable! She’s a true friend who does this eagerly out of her love for me, and this gesture is her way of saying, “I know who you are. I care about you enough to remember and acknowledge these little things about you.”
Only problem is, I grew out of disliking onions years ago. Believe me, I’m as surprised as anyone! I don’t even know when it happened, but one day I realized onions are not so bad. I even started seeking them out for cooking, and have asked for them on my Subway order. I have casually mentioned this fact to my bestie a number of times, and yet she continues to assert that I am no fan of onions. I find this both endearing and unsettling. I love that she knows my onion-detesting past, but not that she continues to impose her previous knowledge on my current onion-loving state.
It makes me wonder what other bits of my “identity” she is holding fast to that no longer exist in me. Has she seen strongholds, failures, and flaws in my yesterday that cause her to refuse to believe they are no longer applicable because I am a living, breathing, and ever-changing being? Probably so. A more important question for me to ask myself, however, is this: Do I let my best friend’s perspective of me define who I am today, and who I am to be in my tomorrow? And then the gut-check question arises: Do I, in turn, deny her growth and reject her newness because of my vast experience with her history?
Jesus himself struggled with this very issue as told in Matthew 13:53-58. He goes home and faces countless people who has only ever seen him as the carpenter’s son, and won’t consider any other identity for him. How incredibly sad for those people to be in the presence of the Messiah, and yet not see the potential of his life and ministry. The Bible says they would not witness any great miracles there because of their unbelief.
Here’s the good news! We serve a God that knows every facet of our past AND sees us where we are right now AND knows our future! Psalm 139:1-4 says, “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I set and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely.” He is not limited by only knowing our beginning, he has seen the end of us as well and can make promises to us for our life he already knows will come to pass. We have hope to be more than what we see in ourselves and what others see in us right now. He is Jehovah M’Kaddesh, the God who sanctifies; He will mold, purify, and revive his children in ways we can’t even begin to imagine if we would only surrender to His will and seek after him wholeheartedly.
Let us pray that we as the church would let no one other than our Heavenly Father define us. Pray that we as the church would allow God to move and do wonders in our lives so profound and life-altering that no one alive could deny the power and glory of Christ in us. Finally, pray for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and see the potential that resides in each of God’s human creations to be more than we have been, more than we are now, and to imagine the possibilities that God has laid out for our future, especially in those who have not yet achieved salvation. And keep the onions coming!