Recently I did a lecture on personal identity. This lecture was presented to members of my church and they loved it. During the lecture, I showed how the identities we held of ourselves made all the difference in the world. we talked about God and how His nature related to ours - How we were in fact, HIM. Before you head begin spinning Here is the excerpt from the portion on Love. It's all about assuming the identity of God.
ASSUMING THE IDENTITY OF GOD
Assuming the Godlike identity of which I speak may not be the easiest thing to do; the moment you assume that identity, your life is never the same. You become renewed in the spirit of your mind:
Eph. 4:23.
You already have the identity of God attributed to you; what now is left is for you to become aware of, and live that identity. When you become aware, you experience total renewal of your mind. You thinking processes become different forever: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” - 2nd Corinthians 5:17 (KJV). To live the identity of God, you must exhibit the characteristics of God; you must understand the nature of God: LOVE
God is Love. While it is not within the scope of this book to discuss the types of Love, it is wise to mention here that the love of which I speak is unconditional love. The love that Paul spoke about in his 1st letter to the Corinthians. “Love is Patient, Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” 1st Corinthians 13: 4-7 (NIV) That is the nature of the love of God. As you’ve become aware, this now should be the nature of your love.
To live this characteristic of love, you must begin by first loving yourself, just as you are. How can God be unhappy or for a stronger term, angry with himself as He is? Granted, you may not like certain aspects of your physical body but that’s ok. What you have to realize is the body is only the frame
(vehicle) that carries you; it is not you. You are NOT your body; thus, you body is under your control. You must love yourself so that you are enabled to follow though on aspects like your body, which you would like to make changes on.
I once heard a story of a very motivated young man. Life had dealt him what he thought was a few unpleasant hands. Things were not just going the way he had thought they would at the time. Amidst all that, this young man was determined to make the most of whatever hand hew had been dealt. He was willing to make whatever sacrifices he needed to make in order to accomplish the goals he had set for himself.
This Young man charted out, to the letter, what he thought his ideal wife would look like. After facing yet another inspiring challenge in his life, he saw himself becoming close friends with someone who had but 40% of the qualities and characteristics of his ideal miss. The friendship grew stronger to a point of affection. This affection (love) became stronger to the point that it blinded him to her flaws but opened his eye to possibilities- to what she could become. He abandoned all efforts trying to find someone that met his charts, and focused on making her fit the chart His eyes has since remained opened, and with the look of things, he’s ever glad he made the decision to abandon further quests.
Like he young man, you must realize that you are all that you have to work with. Your body, no matter what it looks like to you, is what you’ve got. You had better start falling in love with it as it is, and then begin the path to making it look the way you would want it to look like.
The may be other things about yourself that you may not be happy with. You have to acknowledge them, and yet come to terms with loving yourself in spite of everything. Maybe it’s a habit as smoking, or excessive drinking. Maybe it’s procrastination, maybe its gluttony. Whatever it is, say to yourself: Despite these things I STILL LOVE AND ACCEPT MYSELF. I REALIZE THAT I AM NOT THESE HABITS, AND I CAN CHANGE THEM BEGINNING NOW!
With true love for yourself, you will watch what enters and comes out of your mouth; ensuring that those things resonate with the identity you’re now forming of yourself.
Once you have come around to loving yourself unconditionally, then you will be on tract to extending the love of God, your love to your Neighbor. Who is your neighbor, and how do you love him/her? Jesus Christ, in the parable of the Good Samaritan showed us who a neighbor is. If you are not familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, I encourage you to read Saint Luke 10: 25-37 in the Holy Bible.
Basically, your neighbor is anyone who you see. All those you ride with on the while on your way to work or school are your neighbors. The guy you see across the street is your neighbor.
The guy who owns the shop three houses down where you buy your milk and coffee is you neighbor.
How do you love your neighbor? That is simple.
Love your neighbor as you love you self. If you truly love you neighbor as you love yourself, you will not criticize him, you will not speak in any negative manner of him when he errs. You will not envy him. If a person loves his neighbor with the love of God, he will treat that neighbor with the same measure of respect as he would treat himself.
With Love comes compassion: that which drives you to show mercy and to forgive. Again, 1st Corinthians 13 reminds us that Love sees no wrong. Your identity as one who has the nature of God is to be merciful and forgives ALL who offend you, including yourself.
The God you ought to be like is a God with plenty of mercy and forgiveness. He’s a God that extends mercy to all; a God that is forgiving. This too, my friend is how you must be if you are to live the identity of God.
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The above excerpt is from an upcoming book that I'm working on. Please keep watching for info on when the book will be available to the the world.
Cheers,
SLS
Agbetsi
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