Enough: Finding Identity in Christ

(audience applauds)
Keegen Stewart: Good morning.
When I think of Rachel Rutherford,
I think of someone who is authentically herself.
I've gotten to be around Rachel a lot the past four years
through her involvement in the Cornerstone
Scholarship Program, and I can confidently say
that any time Rachel enters a room,
she brings joy, wisdom, kindness, and a bunch of laughter.
Every single time.
She's a Bible major who's been involved
with many great things during her time here at LCU.
She serves as a chaplain for CDs.
She's been in Student Senate for four years
where she works on the Spiritual Life Committee.
And as mentioned, she's a Cornerstone scholar.
She's getting married this summer to Mr. Connor Harwood.
We're excited for him.
(audience applauds)
We're excited for him.
Rachel is the kind of student
who maximized her LCU experience,
and she did so while encouraging
and bringing others along with her.
Please join me in welcoming Rachel Rutherford.
: (audience applauds)
Rachel Rutherford: Good morning.
Thank you, Keegan, for those kind words.
Too kind, I believe.
So I have wanted to speak in chapel since I was a freshman,
and so this is a very exciting opportunity for me.
But as I was preparing for this,
I began to think that all of my ideas
for what I would say were not good enough,
not important enough,
and not valuable enough to share with others.
And then I began to really think about that lie,
whatever I wanted to say was not good enough.
I realized that the narrative of not being enough
has been a lie that I've had to battle my whole life,
and especially while in college.
In fact, I distinctly remember journaling late at night
during the first week of college
and wrote down all my fears and anxieties.
This is the journal I used my freshman year.
I'm gonna read you a couple of the things
I was worried about.
I'm afraid that I haven't found my people yet.
This one is hard to admit because I have made
so many friends, but very few of them seem lifelong.
I feel inadequate in most of my classes.
I'm afraid of failure.
I'm afraid of not making a difference.
And then I wrote, why am I so freaking hard on myself?
Good question.
Every time I put myself out there,
whether it was reading scripture in chapel,
meeting a new friend, running for an office,
applying for a summer internship,
or even walking to the cafe by myself,
because that's scary,
I was met with this lie that I'm not enough.
Well, am I enough?
Are you enough?
No, not on our own.
That might sound intense, but stay with me.
It's quite freeing because we do not have to depend
on ourselves for our identity.
We are enough because of Jesus Christ
and his great love for us.
Paul, one of my favorite people,
in the New Testament talks a lot about how believers
are united with Jesus, receive salvation through him,
become part of his body or the church,
and were transformed to live a new life
reflecting his character.
So let's dive a little deeper
into what scripture says about this.
One of my favorite places to go in scripture
for questions about identity is the creation story.
You know, an origin story, where are we from?
So in Genesis 1:27, it reads,
"So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them."
We were created in the image of God,
so our identity is being an image bearer.
But what kind of image are we bearing?
I have been reading "God Has a Name" by John Mark Comer,
excellent book, by the way.
And in this book, Comer is focusing on a scripture
in the Old Testament that expresses the image that we bear.
And it's a pretty influential passage in scripture.
Exodus 34, five through seven A.
It is a pretty influential one, as I said,
that describes God.
It reads, "Then the Lord came down in the cloud
and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
And he passed in front of Moses proclaiming,
'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
maintaining love to the thousands,
and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.'"
In this passage, God reveals his name to Moses.
And just to catch you up on the story
so you're not confused,
the Israelites have just been rescued
out of captivity in Egypt
with Moses who was called by God to be their leader.
The Israelites are currently wandering in the wilderness.
And in this section of the story,
Moses goes up to Mount Sinai
and is given the new stone tablets for the commandments
because he threw them on the ground
the first time that happens.
And then God proclaimed his name to Moses.
This is a significant moment because in Hebrew culture,
names are a big deal.
They're not just a title to announce who you are,
but they're a hallmark of your identity.
For example, Isaac's name, the son of Abraham and Sarah,
means he will laugh.
And Sarah, when God announces that she will have a baby
at nearly a hundred years old, laughs.
Okay, so it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy type of thing.
And not just for humans.
Their society was polytheistic in the ancient world.
And so their God's names also had meaning.
And something else that is significant about God's name
is the order in which he says things.
Order is a big deal in the Old Testament.
So God is compassionate and gracious.
Compassionate can also be translated as merciful.
And then gracious is an action verb and they're a pair.
And gracious means to show favor.
God is also slow to anger or patient,
which I appreciate that.
He is abounding in love and faithfulness.
He's maintaining love to thousands.
And he forgives wickedness, sin, and rebellion.
God expresses these attributes throughout scripture.
And this is evident in the story of Moses
and the Israelites.
If you read the story of Genesis,
like the end of Genesis through Exodus
and all on through Numbers, Deuteronomy,
things like that, you'll see this theme.
God rescues them from captivity
and then when they worship the golden calf, he forgives them.
And that's just one example of the many times
that he forgives them.
The same God who was present in Moses
and the Israelites story is present in my life
and in yours too.
All right, so it's easy to say
that I place my identity in Christ.
But what does that look like practically?
One way that's helpful for me to align myself
with this truth is through reflection.
While reflecting, I pray that God will reveal ways
he has provided for me and has worked in my life,
especially when I didn't see it the first time.
I like to journal while reflecting
because it helps me capture some of my thoughts.
And one journal entry from this September reads,
"God, I'm thankful for your forgiveness.
"I feel at times that I am often unforgivable or unlovable,
"but I know that's not the truth at all.
"You loved me so much that you delivered me
"in all of humanity from the powers of sin and death."
Journaling, however, is a past tense action,
but it grounds me in this truth.
So something I like to do in the present
to remind me of my identity in Christ is say affirmations.
I'm a big nerd, so I've mentioned like a bunch of books,
but two years ago, I read a book titled
"Soundtracks" by John Acuff, great book, by the way,
and it addressed the power of replacing
your negative thoughts with things that are positive.
Instead of just stop saying negative things,
it was every time you hear it,
reframe it with something positive.
And since I've read this book, it's really changed my life
in the way that I've tried to approach
self-talk that is negative.
So I want to have us all say some affirmations.
So if you'll hold up your mirror,
not that many of you are doing it, so awkward.
Hold up your mirror, thank you.
And you're gonna repeat after me, are you ready?
Okay.
I am fully known and fully loved by God.
I am not a failure.
My identity is in Christ and I am transformed because of it.
And lastly, I am dismissed from chapel.
(audience laughing)
Have a great day.