When you read that, when you hear, I’m a child of God, do you think of a song? I do.
Do you know the song? The song with the words, “I’m a child of God, yes I am.” It’s from Hillsong, and they’re lyrics from the song Who you Say I Am. If you already know it, I’m sure you can't help but start singing the words.
What’s hysterical to me right now is that my second post is about singing a song. Why is that so funny? Because I don’t sing.
I mean I don’t sing in church, I don’t sing around people, and please don’t judge me here, but I particularly don’t like singing ‘worship’ songs. But this song, right now, as I’ve started to prepare to launch this blog, this song hits me hard.
As I've been thinking about identity, as I think about my identity, this song keeps coming into my head. And here I am writing and singing aloud for all my empty house to hear, “I’m a child of God, yes, I’m am.” Reason one, this is never going to be a podcast!!
But let’s not stray from the important stuff. Say it out loud now. If you know the tune, sing it.
I’m a child of God, yes I am! Yes, I am!
Wow, those are the words I wrestle with on my worst days, and probably don’t truly appreciate on my best. Yet they are as real for me today as they were the day I was born.
When the world fails me. When the people in my world let me down, and I feel like I don’t have anything to offer. When I feel like I’ve failed, or that my identity or value have wasted away to nothing, I can be assured I AM A CHILD OF GOD.
What does that mean? Well, it can be hard in some ways to make it feel real.
God is not a presence in my life the way my parents are, and I am their child. He is not present the way my husband is, and he loves me. God does not wrap me in His arms in the physical way my husband does when I need reassurance and little extra love. Nor do His arms protect me the way my dad did when I was little. God does not give me the same physical experiences of His presence that mark His love and care in the same way my family and friends do.
But His presence is not diminished. Oh, how much I know His love to be true and real and sustaining, because He is present in my life, and it is true, and real, and so very sustaining.
I know who He is, and He knows who I am. I am His.
And there it is right there, the truth. ‘I am’ is the truth of God’s identity and His presence.
When in Exodus 3:14, Moses seeks to know what to call God, He simply says, “I am who I am.” This was no small statement; this was an all-encompassing expression of God’s greatness and eternal existence. Moses knew God, he had been in His presence, but he needed a name because we connect a name with identity.
But God gave Moses more than a name to call Him. He gave Him a way to understand who He was.
Similarly, when Jesus’ followers asked, or people questioned who Jesus was, he prefaced his explanation of himself with ‘I am.’ Check out the seven times in the Gospel of John, where Jesus begins a declaration with ‘I am.’ And if you want to understand John a little more, listen to “The Bible for the Ordinary Life” podcast.
When I read these ‘I am’ statements from Jesus, I gain a sense that he was more than I can understand, and at the same time, simply all that I need.
As I say or sing, I am a child of God, I proclaim the most authentic part of myself. I reveal the depth of my value and worth. I point to the one who made me, and the one who loves me for simply being His.
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