“Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him” Isaiah 51.2, NKJV
In a world where extremes rule the day, it is very reassuring to know that God had ordained the form by which our fellowship with Him will take - the order of individuality. While social networks may be the present exciting and fashionable order of life and seclusion is seen as an abomination. It is important to know that each of us is a unique personality created by God to do distinctive things and walk with Him as an individual.
It is only by this one on one relationship that we can become a relevant and productive part of the whole human race. Until this is understood, we will continue to live stressful lives that have put our personality to the subjection of social groups. The place of the individual is being lost to social grouping whether of a religious or secular and those who assert their godly right are seen as odd.
Yet God showed us by His call of Abraham that the right of the individual is critical in a fellowship with Him. There is a subtle and sometimes overt call to conformity without any regard to the individual. Now this doctrine is not in disregard to the importance of the larger society but a respect for the ‘wholeness’ of a person in his unique character.
Webster’s Dictionary, International edition defines individuality as ‘the quality or characteristics that make one person or thing different from others; the quality or state of being individual. Also an individual is defined as ‘existing as a complete and separate entity; distinctive striking different from others; one person, animal, organism etc as distinguished from a group’
The doctrine of individuality in scripture has to do with the order of first being a singular person, complete and special before being part of a body. None of us completes another but in our various uncommon and unequalled characteristics we bring beneficial good to others in a group. Thus, it is because we first experience that personal liberty that we can bring the same for the common good. Alas! This is what is lacking today where a cult like following in overt and subtle religious and secular ways seem to be the norm and fashionable order of life.
The godly identity that God gave each person is unfortunately being eroded by an overbearing popular culture of life. God spoke about this important truth to Jeremiah
“Before I have formed you in the womb. I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” Jeremiah 1.5NKJV
Note that God was emphatic about Him being the creator of Jeremiah’s life and purpose – not his society, religion, culturel or family. This was to emphasise the importance of his wholeness as an individual dedicated to God and from which the experiences of his life and relationships would be formed.
The implication of this truth is so important to the way we make our choices and its consequences in our lives. Being dedicated to God means having a total dependence on Him from which every activity of our life proceeds giving us the identity that reveals His plans and purpose for us and creation. When we are out of order, it brings unpleasant circumstances for us and others.
A good example is the choice that Abraham made when he was still waiting to receive the fullness of the promise of God for a child. God called Abraham out of his family and country to begin a new special kind of people on the earth. Abraham obeyed and left his family and home to begin a spiritual and physical journey with God. This call to individuality was re-emphasised when God said to him
“Walk before me and be thou perfect” Genesis 17.1KJV
Yet Abraham in his quest to have a child listened to Sarah about taking on a concubine and conceived Ishmael by Hagar, her servant. By that singular act of disobedience, he put in jeopardy the lives of people in generations to come. For the effect of that decision is what is the behind the various violent uprisings as we have experienced all over the world causing untold sufferings.
“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every hand against him” Genesis 16-12KJV
God had made it clear Ishmael was not the son of promise despite Abraham’s desire. (See Genesis 17.18). Sarah conceived of Isaac and went on to bring in the lineage of Christ that we are members of today.
Understanding individuality is key to walking before God and being perfect. In each person lies the specific plan of God and it is in dedicating ourselves to His guidance that we experience the riches of glory, fulfilment and inner peace that overcomes any odds. God’s guidance is unique to each of us and we must never give place to anything or person that wants to usurp that position.
Through series of adjustments that Abraham made in walking with God, he remained faithful to the call and the testimony of his life is summed up by God and his servant, Eliezer
“And the lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and menservants and maidservants and camels and asses” Genesis 24.35
God spoke of Abraham;
“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws “Genesis 26.5
Abraham had this good report about him because he learnt to be obedient to God first before anything else
Just as God called Abraham alone, so he has called everyone. The different outcomes is in whether like Abraham, we will obey the call to separateness and enter into a covenant with God about our lives while making the necessary adjustments even when we fall out of line. The testimony of God and men will be as that of our father of faith – Abraham.
In creation as well as in fellowship with God, there is a divine protocol – an order about things. When God formed man, He first made him a solitary person before creating a relationship for him – Eve. That is the divine order of relationship with God and men. You must first discover and harness your personal identity before your relationships will be in order. To overturn this as the world presently advocates is to bring in disorder. Therefore one is first exclusive before he can be inclusive of the whole.
Losing one’s identity because one erroneously believes that conformity is the first order is what brings inner dissatisfaction and external disorderly conduct. Either way the intended good of God’s plan is never achieved.
What does it mean to be ‘called alone’ as Abraham was? T o understand this, we must consider that being of a solitary nature is not being aloof.
Webster’s dictionary of International Edition defines aloof as ‘reserved, cold in manner’. That is the negative side of being alone. It is also not loneliness or being isolated from others. It is establishing your right to a personal identity from which the decisions of your life will be made. When that is in place, then the choices you make for yourself and in relation to others will be good and beneficial without limitations.
This was what Abraham learnt. He started out living with Lot and then realised that Lot was not a part of his call and so a separation ensued. This opened him to the clarity of God’s vision while being good to Lot when it was necessary to do so. Through the lessons from his mishandling of the heir issue, he realised that submission to customs and traditions was subject to God’s plan for him. Sarah’s request was the norm in their culture but because that was not in God’s plan, that tradition became an error the moment he accepted.
Jesus was a good example. He was of the Jewish nation and held their customs in high regard yet he functioned in the place of divine protocol of obedience first to God above all. He understood that His divine mandate was to set a new order of life in place: replacing the old limiting experiences from seeking to obey God’s laws from one’s strength to having a relationship of the Holy Spirit writing those same laws within, so that obedience comes from the heart voluntarily and without hypocrisy.
Jesus faced opposition from religious people and the cultural practices of His time yet He remained faithful to the call. Some examples are the case of the Sabbath law. The Sabbath was an important religious and cultural day in the Jewish calendar. Its observation was very strict – no form of work as it was considered a day of rest and worship commemorating the completion of creation. But on at least two occasions, Jesus went against the application of the law as it would have brought injustice on the people concerned.
In Mathew, the disciples of Jesus were very hungry and passing through a grain field, they plucked some of it to eat. It was on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees were appalled and condemned the act saying
“Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
Jesus taught them about the spirit of the Sabbath and what that meant by using the example of David who did the same when he was hungry. He concluded
“But if you had known what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice; you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” Mathew 12.2, 7-8 NKJV
In another incident, the disciples ate bread without washing their hands in a specific traditional ritual. The Pharisees screamed abomination. Hear them.
“Why do Your disciples not walk according to the traditions of the elders but eat bread with unwashed hands?
Jesus answered
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written. This people honor Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying side the commandments of God, you hold the tradition of men – the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do.....All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition." Mark 7.6-8, NKJV
There are many more of such incidents where Jesus stood up to his personal identity over traditional and religious doctrines in order to fulfil his destiny. These stories are not an excuse to throw out cultural and religious norms that are not incompatible with Christianity but that such must never be exalted over God’s commandments. For one cannot serve God and these doctrines on the same level.
By committing Himself to God first, Jesus was able to make righteous judgements about His life, purpose and relationships. In upholding the truth, He emphasised it twice at different times with the Jews.
“For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will and purpose but to do the will and purpose of Him who sent me” John 6.38 Amplified.
In other place, He said
“I can of Myself do nothing; As I hear, I judge; and My judgement is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” John 5.30 NKJV
Just like Jesus, we are all created by God for His good pleasure and to do His will. The life of Jesus Christ shows how to live in God’s will without undermining the norms and practices of society. When Jesus was found in the company of persons that the religious people called ‘sinners’, He answered them
“Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” Mathew 9.11-13NKJV
Jesus was sent for our salvation. If He had succumbed to their beliefs, we would have missed out on our redemption. That would have left us hopeless. May this truth sink deep in to your heart as you ponder on the vital importance of upholding the integrity of your true nature and relationship with God. This will be tested just as Jesus was but if you remain faithful to Him who called you alone, blessed and increased as Jesus and Abraham did, you will fulfil your destiny. You will be standing when everything else has been shaken.
I have had experiences on both sides and learnt the truth. One incident of standing up for my individuality was when I
had to let go of a business contractual relationship at a bank. The head of that unit was a modern day Nebuchadnezzar who wanted all lawyers to bow to him and went to extreme measures of humiliation and deception to achieve that goal. I walked away and never came back despite appeals to conform. It was a tough call but the Grace of God upheld me not to back down. My spirit was exhilarated and I grew in my inner spiritual confidence in faith and my relationship with God. I came through with no regrets!
On the other side, I have also made some bad judgements conforming to peer pressures that have been regretful. I have made peace with myself and God and moved on but it made me realise the foolishness of such poor choices. Looking back now, I realise in one specific incident that if I had chosen to assert myself rather than listen to the sound of popular culture, it would have been a joyful experience- tough but still joyful.
The lesson is that it never pays to subject God’s inalienable rights of your precious being to others. NEVER PAYS! Think of how many lives have been destroyed – physically, spiritually, emotionally, maritally etc because of the choices that are made to bow to fashionable opinion and views of society, peers, religion, family, culture etc. Marriages with faulty foundation, deaths resulting from abortion due to being rejected by peers and society; financial ruin because of keeping up with ‘the Jones’; spiritual and physical death because the authority of men was exalted above the Word of God.
Think!! We have all been there in various facts and experiences. Some of us have been destroyed physically whilst others have yet to recover from such painful memories and actions. Others by the work of Grace received the forgiveness of God and moved on but occasionally the thought slips through.
Don’t sell your distinct personality for a mess of pottage of whatever kind. Seek daily to uphold your individuality and experience the life that God has for you.
READ MORE MESSAGES FROM MY NOTES SECTION
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