What Do You Do?

We’ve all been there, hundreds of times — a church meeting, a party, a social gathering — a stranger extends their hand, and gives their name. You shake their hand, and give your name. The majority of the time the next words are, “Nice to meet you. What do you do?”

And, so it begins. Perceptions immediately begin to form. The die is cast.

Because you do what you do, you must be this and this and that. And then we categorize those we meet by what they do.

NewsFlash:
You are not what you do!

Our culture has formed these boxes, and based on what you do, you are placed in one of them. But the reality is, you are not what you do, and the sooner you discover who you really are, the better your life will become.

It’s sad, that for so many people, when they step into their vocation, they form their identity around that vocation.

What you do is definitely a part of you, but it is not the “real” you.

God established your identity even before you were born. God, your Creator, has designed you for a specific purpose. He has created you with all the necessary tools inside of you to become who He designed you to be.

Your eyes, Lord, saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16

Unfortunately, life happens. We immerse ourselves in a vocation, and day-by-day we cover up who we really are, by pouring ourselves into a mold someone else created. We print business cards with our name and title, and sometimes our picture, to give to others declaring our identity. We become comfortable in the conventional.

There are times when something shakes us, and our “true” identity reminds us of who we really are. Months and years go by, then suddenly, something leaps inside of us, and we wonder, “What if?”

We have this yearning to walk it out, but our mind then explains why, at this point in our lives, that could never happen. There are a list of excuses that we entertain. A mass of voices shouting in our head, trying to justify why we can’t do what God has created us to do. We steady ourselves, and rationalize that our mind is probably right, and we come into agreement with all those excuses we just heard.

Frustrated, we pull ourselves back into our cocoon and settle for a life that we were never created for. Maybe we weren’t meant to fly at all, and so we just crawl away.

You may have boxed your dreams, taped them up, and placed them securely on the bottom shelf of your basement. You may have taken it upon yourself to bury those dreams. But they’re not dead. Just as Jesus called Lazarus to “come forth,”  He’s calling your dreams and your identity to “come forth.” 

What God created you to do, cannot be done by anyone other than you.

You are not a mistake.
You are not a mishap.
You are not a miscalculation.
You are God’s masterpiece.

And, you are here for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14)

The dreams God placed inside of you will never die. God sealed those dreams and your identity in the womb. And while “what” you do may pacify for a time, it can never satisfy “who” you really are.

Dare to step into the identity God has placed inside of you.

Dare to believe what your Creator says about you.

I’m . . .
Still Believing!