Who do you think you are? The words spoken deliberately, pointed and accusing. The intonation and body language leave no room for doubt. Nobody. Nothing. Not welcome. The voice of the inner critic joins in, “What was I thinking? Who am I to presume that I could? Why would anyone want me here?”
For many the commentary running through their head is, “I’m nothing, don’t bother yourself; it’s only me.” Yet the season of Christmas should remind us of the polar opposite. Emmanuel – God has come to us.
Jesus, the king of heaven laid aside his glory and majesty and came to Earth. He was not born in a palace. It was not even the wise men that came to him first. It was to despised shepherds, on the bottom rung of the social ladder, that the angels broke the news of the new arrival.
Homeless. Born in the filth of an animal pen. The eternal God became one of us. Then, like the myriad refugees scattered across the world today, the holy family fled to a foreign land for fear of their lives. What a welcome for the One, whose birth was announced by celestial choirs singing of “peace on earth”.
God came near, not primarily for the clever, rich and famous. Jesus came not to help those that though themselves something, but rather to the humble, to those with low self-esteem.
Years later the ruling religious class were horrified that Jesus, now a well-known rabbi, would associate with “sinners” – a technical term for despised people. His response, “It’s not the healthy that need a doctor, but those who are ill” was then followed it up, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”1
We should belittle ourselves no longer. The book of beginnings says that God created mankind in His own image; we have something of God in us. 2 Our response must be to re-evaluate our perception of ourselves; to see us as our Creator does.
So, who do you think you are?
You are someone.
You are something.
You are loved and accepted by God.
Believe it and let it brighten your day!
