Have you ever pondered these profound thoughts, “who am I” or “what is my purpose in life”? If so, you are not alone. Many people have had these same introspections but I suspect that only a few have come up with any spiritually meaningful answers. However, I believe I can bring some revelation to these questions.

First, let us examine what the Word of God has to say about "who am I", just to put things into perspective. In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asks his disciples, “whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”. They replied that some thought he was Elijah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. But in verse 15 Jesus asks, “But whom say ye that I am?”. (notice the use of the words “I Am”, which is what God called Himself while talking to Moses in the book of Genesis.) Now, Jesus was getting down to the meat of the matter in wanting to know what the disciples thought rather than the general public. So, in verse 16, Simon Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, (The Messiah or Anointed One) the Son of the living God.” Then in verse 17, Jesus says, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona (or son of Jona): for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven”.

You see, people know who Jesus is by revelation of God or by the Holy Spirit, to be more exact, and that’s how you’re going to know who you are, as well. This revelation was so important that Jesus said, in verse 18, that he would build his church upon it and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. I think he was also saying that the gates of hell would not only, not prevail against the church, but also not prevail against this revelation. It is so important to you and me that our eternal destination rides upon this confession. So think about it if you have not had that revelation.

Now, back to who you are. First of all, you are a Spirit (or spirit being, Genesis chapter one, says that God breathed the breathe of life into Adam and, according to the original Hebrew lexicon, he became a speaking spirit- just like God). So, here’s the deal, you are a Spirit Being, you live in a body and you have a Soul (the soul consists of your mind, your will, and your emotions). Soul and spirit are not the same, as most of us think. However, the Bible says that the Word of God is like a two-edged sword, so sharp that it can sever or differentiate between soul and spirit. (see Heb. 4:12). Can you see that there is a difference?

When you get “born again” or saved, as the Baptists like to say, your Spirit, (the real you which will live eternally, saved or not saved; the only question being your destination) is made new. You are now a new Spirit Being or new creation that never existed before. The old spirit or old you which is already dead as far as its relation to Christ, starts to die or become less dominate as you become more like Jesus. That is why it is called being “born again”, as Jesus put it.

Let’s see if we can put this into focus now. You live in a body, designed just for you and the Bible says that body is now the Temple or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. We, therefore, should take care of it as such. You will notice that we take very good care of our church building or temple and reverence it as if it were the dwelling place of God. That is just not fact. God dwells in you in the form of the Holy Spirit and the church building is just a place where we meet together to worship Him and hear His word, among other things.

As I said, we have a soul and it also has three parts, your mind, your will, and your emotions. When the word of God says, in Gal. 5:16, that if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust (or desires) of the flesh, it means that we should not allow our mind, will or emotions to lead us. If we do, we will not be walking in the spirit. Our reborn spirit (or the real you and me) should be allowed to lead us because our spirit is lead by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

In conclusion, (yes there is a conclusion), the answer to the question of who am I is found in who is allowed to be in charge of you. Is it going to be your soul or you spirit? Since God gave you a free will, you have the right, through your will, to choose who is going to be in charge of your daily life. To please God and benefit ourselves, we should be like Jesus, and say to God, “not my will but thy will be done”.  Then we will begin to know who we are for the Bible says in, 2 Cor. 5:21, "we are made the righteousnes of God in Christ".

Glory to God,

Hal Mitchell

Halmitch@cox.net