Olympic Stars
Stickers only stick if you let them. Your identity matters. Become the person you were created to be!
The Olympics of 2024 are on in Paris! Some are winners. Some are losers. Or are they? By fractions of seconds, some miss the gold and feel like failures. What matters in your life?
Max Lucado wrote You Are Special, and it has sold millions of copies in the world. Why is self-worth key for all, not merely Olympic medal winners? One Wemmick in the village of Wemmicksville has more dots than stars. Wemmicks put stars or dots on other Wemmicks all day long.
Puchinello had lots of dots and no stars on him. He felt that he could never do anything right, but one day he met Lucia, who had no dots or stars on her. Curious, he asked her why she had no stars or dots on her.
She directed him to go see Eli, the woodworker.
And so one day he gathers a little courage to step inside the big workshop. Eli picks him up to sit on the bench. He said, “I do not care what other Wemmicks have to say about you.” And that shocked Punchinello!
He said, “You don’t?”
He said, “No, they are Wemmicks, just like you. Why should I care?” He said, “I made you, and I never make something that is not beautiful. You are special to me.”
And then he said, “I met this girl who did not have any stickers on her, and she told me to come. Why did the stickers not stick to her?”
And Eli looks at Punchinello very closely and carefully and he says, “because she is decided that what I think and say about her is more important than what others think and say about her.”
That was a revelation to Punchinello!
He said, “Stickers only stick if you let them.”
“What?”
And the last thing Eli said to him was, “Remember, I never make mistakes, and you are special.”
And as Punchinello was walking out of the workshop, he thought to himself for the very first time, “I think he means it.” And when he thought that, a dot fell off.
What God has to say and think about you is more important than what other people have to say and think about us.
Your identity matters
It’s time to play the movie to preview your future destination because your identity matters. Begin with the end in mind.
When you accept your identity in Christ, you will find purpose and meaning. Your identity in Christ is who you really are at the core.
“You are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).
Every follower of Jesus is identified as a temple, a new creation. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives and moves in your body. You are mobile like a car, an automobile.
The fire of the presence of God that consumed the sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem is now the fire of the presence of God in your body.
Your BODY is the temple of God.
Compared to your new identity from a divine perspective, your human viewpoint includes labels, achievements, culture, personality, gender, social status, looks, individual beliefs, nationality, and more. You label yourself inaccurately with a faulty mindset. Not so with Jesus. By surrendering to your identity in Christ, you shine the light of God through your brokenness.
Mobile Temple Identity: Who’s Driving You? reveals how that supernatural fire empowers you. Unless you surrender to be led by God’s Spirit, you will not find joy in your unique identity.
God’s personal temple presence — God’s Spirit that was foretold by Israel’s prophets — now has come to take up residence in the new temple of Jesus’ body, that is, His people. They’ve become little mobile temples where God now dwells (Mackie & Collins, 2018).
You are chosen to be His image bearer, empowered by His presence indwelling you. God is not interested in riding in the backseat of the vehicle of your life. It’s not about trying harder.
Think of yourself as a vessel, an instrument, a vehicle to be used for His glory and for your good. He seeks to be your Chauffeur, the Driver of your heart. Let go of the wheel.
Jesus said, “Your will be done.” As He prayed to God on the night He was betrayed, He surrendered to be led by God. He was not driven by His own will. Now, His example of surrender is yours to follow. God will reveal your identity so that you become the person He created you to be.
Just ask God to show you how. God sees your heart.
He has a specific design for you. He knows how, because He created you. God says, “My will be done,” and unless there is surrender to be led by God’s will, where your will aligns with His, He will not make you into the person that He created you to be.
Roadmap to your unique identity
The map is God’s Word, the Bible. You can track your progress by previewing the movie in a practical way using this book to check the trajectory of your direction. Your unique identity in Christ matters because God’s Holy Spirit shines within you to give you supernatural Christian living, moment by moment! In other words, the heat and light generated by the fire of His Holy Spirit enlightens a clear pathway for you to be a mobile temple. Your destination is determined by the direction of what attracted your attention from the motivation of your heart. Those choices will be tested and revealed that Day.
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:9–17)
The paths you choose will determine your direction and ultimately your destination. At the end of your journey there is a Day of Judgment. Be a mobile temple to reflect Jesus.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1)
