What defines our outlook on life?

"I am who you say I am". These are familiar words included in a worship song we currently sing at New Life. But I wonder whether we really live out the sentiment of this song? Let me give an illustration from the life of Moses:

Stephen was quoted as saying, "Moses was powerful in speech and action" apparently before he was 40 (Acts 7:22). But by the time Moses met God at Mount Horeb at the age of 80, he tells the Lord, "Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." (Exodus 4:10)

Now why would Moses say this to God, if in fact he had been powerful in speech and action before he was 40? I believe that Moses had let his later life be defined by his earlier indiscretion in murdering an Egyptian. When Pharaoh learnt of this, he sought to kill Moses; so Moses ran away, ultimately becoming a shepherd in Midian for his father-in-law, Reuel (Jethro), a job that was detestable to Egyptians (Gen. 46:34). Perhaps Moses knew that being a lowly (detestable) shepherd in Midian effectively hid him from view of Pharaoh's police force.

But it would seem that being hunted by Pharaoh had a negative effect on his confidence. Perhaps he was constantly looking over his shoulder in case he was discovered by Pharaoh's men.

God didn't leave Moses in his obscure state in Midian: The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." But Moses said, "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else." (Exodus 4:11 – 13)

"Please send someone else". Why would Moses say this? Perhaps because he believed he was a nobody, and felt unqualified for the task, and/or perhaps he was fearful of a return to Egypt where he had made his major mistake 40 years earlier.

What about us? We want to see revival across our city, and God is willing to raise us up to facilitate that work, but maybe like Moses, our response to God is, "please send someone else". The Bible has much to say about our identity in Christ Jesus. Here are just a few examples:

I am not ruled by fear

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7).

I am loved

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

I am chosen and special

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).

I am God's workmanship created to work for Him

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:10).

For the Christian, the truths of the Bible should define our thinking and our attitudes, not our imaginations which may be based on negative memories from earlier in life. Will we let our background/ history/perceived failings and shortcomings hold us back from effective ministry for the Lord, or will we step out, believing "I am who God says I am?"