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The old philosophers had a saying, ³I think therefore I am´. A more current version
could well be this ³I am this therefore I am.´ We now define ourselves by the things
that define us, the things that ³rock our boat´
Part of the Generation X description is that this group, who are now 30 ± 40 years old,
tend to find their identity in the things that have most meaning to them. They may
work at a particular occupation but their identity is more related to the parts of their life
that mean the most to them.
The parents to Gen Xers as a general rule found their identity in what they did for a
living. I am not sure which came first the income or the occupation but somehow the
link seemed to be there between the two. This was so clear cut that at the start of the
push for equality in the workplace the phrase ³oh I¶m just a housewife´ was almost a
hanging offence. The promoters of the equality case kept coming up with other quasi
economic definitions like ³Domestic Affairs Manager´.
I am not entirely sure if the Gen Xers might not have come up with the better deal.
Especially is this so for Christ Followers.
We have a new life that is to be found in the words and example of our Master Jesus.
He enables that new life, we must choose it but the decision is just the sta rt, from that
point onward the ³old man´ must be fought against. You see we become two separate
disjointed identities, the ³old´ which takes its identity from where we came from and
the ³new´ which is our identity in Jesus where we need to take on Jesus as our
inspiration and meaning.
This is not to disparage our physical lives. We are physical as well as spiritual . What
we do as physical beings has merit and meaning, the old is not all bad. We have a life
as provider or employee aside from our spiritual being and we have a past which is
not invalidated by our New Life . It may be true that some may have to work harder
than others to overcome their old life, take Paul of Tarsus for example.
The Devil would have the old man pull us back into the old ways. The Devil knows
just how effective a life committed and sold -out to Jesus is. We need to be so centred
on the Master that He can lift us over those times that the old life becomes more
attractive than the trials of today.
We did not sign on to this Faith life because it was ³peaches and cream´ . It will be at
times but as sure as sure there are days in every believers life where it appears to be
easier to throw in the towel.
As I said just before Paul of Ta rsus was one who had to struggle with his earlier life
before Christ. If anyone had a brick wall to climb over it was this man who ordered the
stoning of Steven. This is how he described himself in the letter to the Church at
Philippi
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!"#$
The mystery of the story of Paul is that he was accepted as a member of the
Community of Faith by those smarting from the Pharisee¶s Crucifixion of Christ and
the stoning of Steven that he orde red.
The good news is that we don¶t have to get over that history : thank you God.