Who I Am

A few years ago I heard a man on the radio say, "Who you are at home is who you are."

Ooof. Sort of like a punch to the gut.

I think all of us could honestly say that our best and our worst comes out at home. It's the worst that bothers me. The truth is, I can be pretty yucky sometimes. Just ask my family.

Perhaps I'm harder on myself than anyone else is, but I often feel as if I could be doing so much better. Only human? Sure. Nevertheless, the feeling is there and sometimes it takes up too much room in my brain, like this morning as I sat reading the Bible. I thought, "I could be doing so much better."

Then something happened.

My thoughts shifted from my role in my human family to my status in God's family. A follower of Jesus Christ. A believer that my sins have been washed away by the blood he shed on the cross. For me. For you. And I remembered this truth (it trumps who I am at home): Who I am in Christ is who I am.

The truth is we could all be doing so much better. The problem is it will never be perfect and it will never be sufficient and we will never be able to meet everyone's needs. Maybe that's when the "yucky" me comes out at home. When I'm so tired of trying via my own, limited abilities.

Frustrated.

Irritated.

Why try?

Yuck.

So here's the deal. Today I know that who I am, who I really am, is wrapped up, saturated, buried, drowned, and embedded in Jesus Christ.

He is the One who gets to tell me who I am.

He is the One my family needs. My kids need him, my husband needs him, I need him. Today I will love these people according to who Jesus is, not who I am, and remember that who I am in Christ is who I am.

And Jesus has always been more than enough for everyone.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (NIV, Galatians 2:20).