Discovering Who We Will Be

The daughters of God are destined to a high and holy calling. Discovering who we will be in our Father’s plans for the Kingdom often eludes us. But it shouldn’t and needn’t.

I John 3:2 declares, “Now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be,” but “we know that when He (the Lord Jesus) appears, we will be like Him…”

“Like Jesus” sounds like an exalted position to me. Your destiny and mine is a vital post, reigning with Him.  “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (I Jn. 3:3). We have an assignment to shine, like a pure diamond.

We may not yet appear as who we will be, but according to Ephesians 1, we are destined to…

Adoption into a Family

In First Mate’s Log, my second trilogy featuring the character Melissa Travis, she’s often stung by the islanders’ words of rejection, “You’re not wanted here. You’re not needed. What can a gringa like you possibly do to help?” Yet she knows Chiloé is the sphere in which God has placed her for now.

Labeled as nothing more than an upstart outsider, she is made to feel out of place and useless. But nothing could be further from the truth.

How often have you been told, “You’re not indispensable”? And the truth is, our sovereign God certainly doesn’t need us to accomplish His purposes. The One who created and owns all the beaches of the world will continue to be God Almighty without my grain of sand.

Nevertheless, as member of His family and His personal ambassadors, He has given us the opportunity to make a difference in this world. We need to discover who we are meant to be and what constitutes our part within His program.

Rights and Privileges

Every child of God is predestined to His purpose, which includes the inheritance of equal parts privilege and duty. While “palace life” enjoys its perks, the many duties can become tedious, even draining.

But isn’t that where we have the chance to demonstrate the diamantine power-in-weakness God has infused us with? Amid Melissa’s sleepless nights, exhausting days, and unbearable trials in the struggle for Chiloé, her gossamer strength turns into a steel that will sustain her—and many others.

No matter how often I’m tempted to give up in despair or to believe that nothing I do amounts to a hill of beans, as the older folks in Maine used to say, the truth is…it does matter, or God wouldn’t have sent me to this place at this time.

For my Droplet Gift #11, I purpose to do my best to fulfill my royal destiny. Who and what I will be begins here and now, for “…those who receive the abundance of grace…will reign in life through…Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).

“Always live as though you were wearing an invisible crown.” –Author unknown

Responsibilities and Duties

In order to do that, I always keep in mind three essential details of my job description:

• Prepare to give account of every advantage entrusted to me—in the form of material goods, natural gifts and talents, education and open doors. “The most important thought that ever occupied my mind is that of my individual responsibility to God,” declared the statesman Daniel Webster.
• Plan to leave a legacy behind. And (present-day statesmen to the contrary), a legacy is not my list of impressive accomplishments or a body of works written or achieved, but the people whose lives I’ve touched. God asks us to “tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord…that they should put their confidence in God” (Ps. 78:4-7).
• Purify my motives. In the refinement process, the how and the why of my destiny is more central even than the what. “It is never too late to be who you might have been” (George Eliot), because God “…calls into being that which does not exist” (Rom. 4:17).

The Purpose of Praise

Don’t you love praise concerts? We already have front-row tickets to a future out-of-this-world spectacle. As members of the Kingdom’s international choir, our destiny includes acclaiming the glories of God’s grace. And as Melissa discovers in the final chapters of The Sea-Silk Banner, even “the wrath of man shall praise You” (Ps. 76:10).

Whatever the specifics of our calling, our part is indispensable. We have a role to play in the culmination of the ages. As we realize our purpose of glorifying God, in the process we discover and become all He means us to be, “…transformed into the same image, from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).

Who will we be? Kings and Queens, destined before time began.

Lord, don’t take me home…until I’m fully ready to wear that crown.