On August 18, 1978, the
English rock band, The Who, released their 8th studio album titled Who Are You which was also the title
track on the album. Those three words
form an existential question that many of us have pondered regarding others and
maybe even self.
Think about the labels
that we use to describe who we are:
father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, son, daughter,
grandfather, or grandmother just to name a few.
These attempt to define familial alignment while others attempt to
describe roles that we play. Think of
terms like provider, nurturer, partner, or entrepreneur. This is just a small sampling of the ways in
which we try to answer the question, “who are you?” and assign meaning to our
lives.
In our faith life we also
use a variety of labels to describe who we are in relationship to God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Sinner, saint, redeemed, beloved, forgiven, disciple, follower, seeker,
among others. Two words that describe
who we are but are rarely used are the words influencer and revealer – these
are contemporary correlations to the words salt and light. Jesus said that his disciples are to be salt
and one of the roles of salt is that it influences; it influences taste,
preservation, and healing among other things. Jesus said that his disciples
should be light and we know that light is not self-serving; it serves the
purpose of revealing what is around us. So in contemporary vernacular, Jesus
says that we should be influencers and revealers. We are to influence people in the pursuit of
goodness as defined by the words of Jesus’ in the Sermon on the Mount. And we are to reveal to the world what it
looks like to live in God’s kingdom of love and forgiveness. The challenge is doing what we are meant to
do.
The writer of the second
letter to the Corinthians says that “if anyone is in Christ, they are a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
(NKJV) Notice that the writer does not
say that you are becoming a new creation.
Rather, the writer uses the empathic “you are.” Baptized followers of Jesus Christ are a new
creation – you are salt and light, you are an influencer and revealer of the
kingdom of God. The journey for many of
us is discovering that this is our meaning and learning to live into this new
reality.
I invite you to take time
and read each of the scriptures above as you move to reflect on the questions
below. Take a moment and reflect on what
you assume to be the meaning for your life.
I hope that you might hear the invitation to be the influencer and
revealer that God has redeemed you to be.
Lastly, I pray that God bless the reading of God’s Word and the
meditations of your heart.