FINDING YOURSELF (your identity and personality)

"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39).

Jesus repeated this teaching several times in the gospels; it must be important. Becoming a real self is a requirement to being a psychologically and emotionally healthy person. The key to becoming a real self is not to be so self-absorbed so that every pleasure has to be experienced, or to become introspective to the point of being self-possessed, but rather, to surrender to Jesus. Jesus is the one who gives a new dignity to "other people." Jesus is the one who gives us a new definition of love. Jesus is the one who leads us to look outward rather than inward to become a real self.

The first requirement for becoming a real self is to have a relationship with the Creator. The second requirement is to have a relationship with other people. If these relationships are kept in their proper order, then becoming a real self is a forgone conclusion.

Grace&Peace,
Tom