Remember Who You Are

"Remember who you are..." The strong booming voice of Mufasa, once the lion king, spoke truth into the darkened confusion of his son Simba's world. Simba was living without any worries with a warthog and a meerkat, not as a lion. He could forget, even ignore, who he was, but he could never change who he really was.

Do you know who you are? Do you remember whose you are?

Sept. 11, 2001. Our entire nation watched with horror as the Twin Towers burned and collapsed to the ground after terrorist-controlled planes slammed into the upper floors.

In a moment, so many everyday heroes remembered who they were...fellow Americans. Some lives were saved. Some heroes died helping others. Many suffered loss. And as we watched, sharing their shock and their grief, we were reminded that we were all Americans that day.
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In 1964, I was born into a the home of a young minister and his young wife, both fresh out of Bible college. My daddy still says that I looked so much like my mother the day I was born, he could not name me anything else but Becky, my mother's name.

Even today, the resemblance endures. Every time I visit and especially when I meet their friends and acquaintances, I am recognizably their daughter before introductions are made. I need only to look as far as a mirror to remember who I am and whose I am in my family.

It is not quite so easy to remember who I am spiritually. The Bible tells me that by faith in Jesus Christ, I am no longer a slave to sin, addicted to my self and my appetites. Instead, I have been transformed into a child of God, the Bride of Christ, beloved of the Father. I am free to walk in newness of life, led by God's Spirit.

But like Simba, in the confusion and darkness of my enemy's lies and deceptions, I can forget who I am. I need more than a reminder. I need penetrating truth. Like Simba, I can be paralyzed by the past, with its failures and shame. Or I can be deluded by my accomplishments into thinking I am more than I am

The past is only about what I did. But it is not who I am.

Who are you? The truest answer is found in the question: whose are you?