Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Are You Seeking?: Discovering Your Personal Identity | My Favorite Verses | Colossians 3.1-2

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. We are currently exploring some of our favorite Bible verses and how they've changed our lives. Hey, guys, I want to introduce you to Annie Kelly. She's a friend of mine in Patrick's. She's a new mom. She's got a master's in biblical counseling.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Meet Annie. Here's a question for you. How many times a day do you? search something on Google? Well, the average person conducts three to four searches every single day. That's approximately 120 searches a month. I'm pretty confident I might double that average, but that's beside the point. Google trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top searches. The Google trends in 2020 were categorized by certain key phrases. How to, where, why, during the coronavirus. Here are some of the top searches. How to make hand sanitizer.

Starting point is 00:01:04 How to sell curtain bangs? Where is my stimulus check? Where is Kansas City? Where to buy toilet paper? Why were chainsaws invented? Why is there a coin shortage? Best stocks to buy during coronavirus? Dating during the coronavirus?

Starting point is 00:01:22 Our Google search history is, whether we like it or not, a glimpse into our world. It shows us what's important to us, what's worrying us or consuming our thoughts, and any questions we may have. It shows us what we're seeking. I look back through my search history, and it mainly consisted of shopping, medical quote, advice, unquote, and work-related searches. It's not just Google that's telling us what we value in life. It's how we live our lives. It's how we spend our time, our money, and our talent. Similar to those Google trends that label what was most important to the majority of America last year,

Starting point is 00:01:55 I can look back on my life and think of phrases that defined who I was at the time. Middle school, field goal kicker, funny story. High school soccer player. college sorority girl graduate school accomplished student young adult wife and mother and that basically brings you up to speed with me just kidding those things are all true about me what i mean by that is i was an athlete i did get good grades i am a wife and mother however those things will never be what i'm really defined by when i was thinking about my favorite bible verses i realized that they all have something in common they speak to christian living in identity. And by identity, I mean who God says that we are in Christ. I've learned and

Starting point is 00:02:38 re-learned much about these topics over the years. A struggle for me is identity, and that doesn't just go away when I change seasons. Like weeds in a garden, it crops back up in different places and forms. At one point that looked like having to fit in, and now it looks like navigating my role as a wife and mother. I know that this is a pitfall for me, and I could speak to many times that these verses have impacted me. But the most recent was this past year. Last July, in the middle of a pandemic, my husband Matt and I welcomed our firstborn son, Shepard, into the world. Though the greatest gift of our lives, it brought a lot of unknown. On top of that, I was experiencing the unknown of a move away from my family, and the unknown of a job search. Over the past year, there were a lot of

Starting point is 00:03:22 things that I thought I'd outgrown placing my identity in, such as family, opinions of others, and work. Though I know my identity is in Christ, I have to choose that each day. As I navigated the newness of Columbia, motherhood, and changing jobs, I realized how easy it is for me to be tempted to find bits and pieces of my identity in other places. Maybe you can relate. My Google searches look something like this. Is Shepard gaining enough weight? Am I a good enough mom?

Starting point is 00:03:50 Should I work? Should I stay at home? What do I do in the waiting? What will people think? yet in the midst of all the unknown I was reminded of my given identity our identity isn't something we earn it's something we receive and once we've received it we can walk in confidence the rest of our days knowing the everyday implications the gospel has in our lives identity peace purpose acceptance

Starting point is 00:04:17 joy contentment let's look at colossians 3-1 it says if then you have been raised with Christ. Seek the things that are above. Where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God. Paul wrote the book of Colossians while he was in prison in Rome. He wrote this book to the Christians living in Colossi, a city with a bunch of different religions. The Colossians were experiencing pressure from their culture, tempting them to turn away from Jesus and towards other things. Sound familiar? In this letter, Paul confronts false teaching and encourages Christians to stand firm in their identity in Christ. If then you have been raised with Christ, Paul starts. And in this sentence, if actually conveys certainty, Paul is saying to the

Starting point is 00:05:01 Colossians, you have been raised with Christ. This is your identity. If you're listening and you've given your life to Christ too, then this is your identity. You've been raised with Christ. Another way to say it is that we are in Christ. When we are in Christ, we're identified with Christ and in a relationship with him. It is worth noting that if we define identity as a relationship with God, then who we know God to be makes all the difference in what we think about identity. Why? Well, no one wants a God-given identity if they don't believe that God is fully loving and good. Paul is reminding the Colossians of their belief before he addresses their behavior. This reminds us that it's because of our belief that we should seek the things that are above. In fact, it's only because of Christ that we can seek the things

Starting point is 00:05:43 that are above. Seeking is active, not passive. Seeking is a command, not a choice. We're actually always seeking something. So though seeking itself is a command, what we choose to seek is a choice. Our seeking is either eternal or earthly. There's no in between. In Colossians 3 verse 2, Paul reiterates this by saying, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. So what does this look like? For some context, Colossians 3-1 is sandwiched between two different standards. Man's standard, which is do, do, do, and God's standard, which is to avoid idolatry. Man's standard is focused on works and behavior, but God's standard is focused on motivation in the heart. God cares about relationship, not religion. It's through our seeking of him, not our

Starting point is 00:06:28 do's and don'ts, that we will avoid idolatry. Over the past year, I've practiced backspacing my quote, Google search entries, unquote, and instead coming back to this question. What am I seeking. In the unknown and the waiting, it was day-to-day faithfulness that helped me seek the right thing. It was reframing the script from what culture expects to what God requires. I would wake up and ask, what does faithfulness look like today? Most days that was faithfulness in the mundane. Yet I learned that faithfulness in the little, simple things, is a great thing. I mentioned earlier that our son's name is Shepard. We spell it, S-H-E-P-H-E-R-D, the same way it's spelled in the Bible. I thought it was a pretty uncomplicated name, but turns out his birth certificate and social security card disagree with me, because they both spelled it wrong.

Starting point is 00:07:17 To be honest, I was pretty frustrated. It's just another thing on the to-do list. And I didn't really understand how this miscommunication happened. We turned in a forum with his name written on it. Then I thought some more about it, and I realized that we as humans do the same thing to God. He made us in his image and gave us a clear identity and purpose. Yet there is this evident communication gap in how God sees it. and how we define ourselves. How can we bridge that gap? Well, Jesus already did. We just have to choose to operate out of our truest identity.

Starting point is 00:07:48 When we do that, we're able to seek first his kingdom instead of our own kingdom. And that is reflected in how we live and how we spend our time, our money, and our talent. Practically, this means giving our attention and affection to Jesus before anything and anyone else. Jesus Christ is in the highest position of honor. He ascended to heaven and sits the right hand of God. This is a position of victory, a position of completion, and this is what Christ offers us. The identity that we have in Christ frees us to find contentment and confidence in him and not the world. It releases us to seek the things that are heavenly and not earthly.

Starting point is 00:08:23 It offers security and permanence. It activates obedience and action. Lastly, it's reliable. It won't leave us dissatisfied. So no matter what questions you may be facing or what you might be tempted to find your identity in, I'll leave you with this one question. What are you seeking? Thanks for listening.

Starting point is 00:08:42 If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Are You Seeking?: Discovering Your Personal Identity | My Favorite Verses | Colossians 3.1-2

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.