#whoami

By Rev. George F. Borghardt

You’re baptized. So, you are a child of God. You will inherit everything. Everything in heaven and earth is yours. You have everlasting life.

God loves you—even you. Hard to believe, isn’t it? He doesn’t love you with empty words or shallow religioussounding talk. He sends His Son to die for you. Dead Jesus on Good Friday is how God loves you. Risen Jesus on Easter is how sure your forgiveness is!

All that you are, all that you have done, all that you could do and will do, is washed clean in the Blood and Water flowing from His pierced side. He lives, and now you do, too! You are Watered. You are Worded. You are Bodied and Blooded. How God sees you is through His Good Friday and Easter gifts.

Now, the same God who made the universe in six days is your God. Better than that: The God of all creation bids you to call Him “Father.” He is your Father, because Jesus died and rose again for you. Who you are depends on Whose you are!

The good news, the Gospel, doesn’t depend on you. You do nothing to make God keep loving you. It isn’t as though God is your God, but only if you do this or don’t do that. God isn’t your Father because you do anything. It rests solely and only on Jesus. If it did rest at all on you, it would never be sure. It would only be as certain as you and your abilities. Some days, God might love you. On bad days, no love. If any part of who you are to God rests on you, all of you is lost.

Who you are depends on Whose you are.

A lot of people may have a lot of things to say about who you will turn out to be. They will tell you what you must do, how you should dress, what college you should attend, what career you should have, where you should live, what you need to do in every part of your life. Maybe some of those things will be good and helpful, or maybe not. As these messages tug and pull on you to try and influence who you are, you may become confused. Aptitude tests don’t tell you who you are. Neither do your friends and social media.

Listen instead to the One Who has redeemed you. You are one for whom Christ died. You are a baptized child of God! Your baptism defines who you are by telling you Whose you are!

After God had saved the children of Israel, after He had rescued them, He said, “I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I saved you with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. You will have no other gods.” That’s God saying this: “I’m your God. You are my child. Here is how my children live!” After He saved them, He told them how His children live as His children. He told them how to love Him and one another. The same is true for you!

The Commandments show more than just what you have to do to love God, they also show you who you already are in Christ! This is how you live in Christ. If you live contrary to this or do something in your life that is contrary to your Baptism, you are actually denying Whose you are. So, the jobs in this life that are contrary to the Word of God are the “callings” you want to avoid. Being entertained, choosing lifestyles, and investing your time and energy in those things that are contrary to your Baptism are self-destructive and most likely end up with you outside the faith of Jesus. Why would you live that way anyway? You are baptized!

The Commandments also show you what you don’t have to do! Where there is no Word of God prohibiting a calling, you are free to pursue it! All things are yours in Jesus. All things are possible after Easter. There are no “can’ts” or “impossibles” in the Gospel. You are free to live. Free to move. Free to be His child in whatever way that fits you. If it doesn’t work, that’s okay. That vocation simply wasn’t given you to do! He’ll pick you up and lead you somewhere else.

Being baptized also means you aren’t alone—ever. You aren’t on your own to try to discern what God wants you to do with the rest of your life. God is the one Who put you where you are: in this time and place, with your skills and gifts, facing your opportunities and challenges.He is working through your life’s successes and failures to show His love to you and to others around you. What you do with the rest of your life isn’t only about you. Luther said that we live in Christ by faith, and for our neighbor by love. This is also about Jesus for you and Jesus through you for those around you.

Now, God does give you some clues in your life as to what you can do for others. He has given you the gift of parents, pastors, and teachers to guide you on the way. He put them in your life to speak for Him where there isn’t a Word of God in Scripture. He also has given you many gifts, skills, resources, opportunities, challenges, and limitations, that give you a clue about what He has for you. If you aren’t good at math, you might not be a good rocket scientist. If you aren’t strong and fast, maybe pro football player isn’t your calling.

He won’t love you more if you are pastor or deaconess. You don’t earn His favor by doing something religious. He loves you because of the suffering and death of Jesus. Whatever you do in faith (that is, in Jesus and not breaking the Commandments) will be a gift to others. God will love you in Jesus if you are an engineer. He will love you in Jesus if you have a college degree. He will love you if you don’t. He will love you in Jesus whether you are a janitor or a doctor, a garbage collector or an artist, a plumber or a cashier. He doesn’t love you more if you are a housewife. He doesn’t love you less if you are. He’s going to do good through you for your neighbor in all of these vocations!

You already have a life full of vocations given to you from God to show His love to others. You are already a student, child, brother or sister, church member, neighbor. A vocation is not only or even mainly a job, it is also your calling in family and community. You are not waiting to graduate or get established in your career to serve Jesus in love and show love to others; He has already given you a life full of vocation and opportunity.

You are free. Free to try. Free to fail. Free to get back up and try again. Free to live in Jesus and not worry about what He wants you to do. He’s going to work good in your life wherever you go and whatever you do. That’s the kind of God He is. After all, you are who you are, you will be who you will be, because Jesus did what He did for you. Remember, your Baptism defines who you are by telling you Whose you are!

Rev. George F. Borghardt is the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bossier City, Louisiana. He also serves as the president of Higher Things.