Bishop’s Message
Source: Freepik.com
In a world saturated with so many channels of mass communication and advertising, there are many voices telling us—either directly or subtly—what we need, what we should do, what our value is and who we are. Our identity is constantly bombarded and questioned, but there is one who is firm on who he is. In Exodus 3:14, God says, “I AM WHO I AM.”
This God created us in his image. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him …” Does a vessel know what it has been created for? The one who created it determines its use and purpose, and so it is with us. To know our purpose and identity, we must look to the Creator.
The struggle of identity and purpose is not new. Moses struggled with who he was and what he was to do with his life. So did Simon Peter and the disciples. Their struggles lasted past their youth. For the evil one knows that in sowing doubt in our view of self, it will affect our view of God and thus derail our whole life. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that our struggle with identity is an ongoing process where we face opposition every time God reveals how he sees each one of us.
Our value and purpose are not just in the works of our hands, our achievements, joys and triumphs. It is not even in the pain and sorrow we go through. All these are parts that make the sum but are not in and of themselves the whole.
Our identity is less about how we see ourselves or how the world sees us, but more about how God sees us. In every season of our lives, God is showing us something about ourselves and consequently, something about himself.
Until we go back to the Author and Creator of life, we will find no unshakeable truth nor will we find our identity. God has made us who we are so that we can make known who he is. At the end of the day, there is no greater joy and purpose to be had than to do what we were created to do and to be who we were created to be.
Bishop Philip Lim was elected Bishop of The Methodist Church in Singapore in 2024. He served as a missionary in Cambodia under the Methodist Missions Society (MMS) previously, and was Executive Director of MMS from 2012 to 2018.