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Where am I?
How did I get here?
Where am I going?
These are questions that all of us have asked ourselves at one point or another. Circumstances and situations force us to take a step back and evaluate our lives. Perhaps the loss of a job or child. Maybe an unexpected divorce. We so often look every way but up in our desperate attempt to make some sense of what is going on.
What I want to put forward in this article, the first in a five-part series, is the notion that the reason we are so often caught off guard by the previously mentioned ups and downs of life is that we don’t have a framework for identifying where we are. If we don’t know where we are, it is going to be virtually impossible to discover where we need to go.
The framework that I am going to put forth is what I am calling the Four Pillars. The illustration works well because if you picture an ancient Roman building, it was held by four, or more, pillars. If any of those four pillars are removed, the building is compromised. This is essential in life. If you have no awareness of where you have been and what got you to where you are, you will have no base to build off of in the future. Let’s get started.
Pillar I - Identity
The essence of identity is this: you learn who you are by knowing whose you are. Our identity is not something that is defined by us. On the other hand, it isn’t something that is defined by other people either. Think about a painting. Art is often viewed as being subjective, or open to interpretation, but the final verdict on the meaning of a specific piece of art is given by the artist themselves.
It is the same with us as human beings. We are not free to identify ourselves as whatever we want or whatever others want us to be. Who we are is ultimately told us by our Creator. One of the lies of our age is that identity is rooted in feeling or emotions. As we have seen over the last few years, this untethering of identity from concrete, objective truth leads to confusion and chaos.
"We are not free to identify ourselves as whatever we want or whatever others want us to be. Who we are is ultimately told us by our Creator. "
This is why identity is the most fundamental pillar. If you miss your identity, you will be building everything on a foundation of sand. To repair the damage done on both the individual as well as the corporate, cultural level, we must return to the source of our identity, namely, our Creator God. Only when we have the concrete of our identity firmly set under our feet can we begin to ask, “What does God want me to do?”
Pillar II - Call
Here is where most people try to begin, and in all honesty, they think that if they get this part figured out, everything will work out hunky dory. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Without the firm foundation of your identity being found in who your Creator says you are, you will attempt to derive your identity from what you perceive to be your calling, which is often just what your current profession is.
The danger here is that when you determine that your calling is your vocation or profession, the loss or change of that vocation also means the loss of your identity. In truth, your calling is much deeper, and simpler, than that.
When we speak of calling, we aren’t speaking specifically about what job God has placed you in, or what sphere of influence you have. That will come in due time. The kind of calling we are referring to here is the call that God has for every man, woman, and child on earth. At base level, what does my heavenly Father want me to do as a son or a daughter? The answer is found on the first page of God’s instruction manual, the Bible: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Everyone that God creates, which is everyone that exists, is called to be fruitful and multiply in every area of life. That could be in marriage and family, business, coaching, or discipleship. The calling on all of creation is the same, and that is to “be fruitful and multiply.” To be fruitful means to labor with a view to growth and impact. To multiply means to spread that common calling and mission to others, thus multiplying those who are laboring in that calling.
Only after you have determined this general calling of God for your life will you begin to see His specific calling for you in terms of vocation or ministry.
Pillar III - Forge
This is the pillar that, at face value, is the least enjoyable. It is the often painful and difficult process of getting molded and shaped into who God wants and needs you to be. All throughout the bible we see people going through a time of trial and testing where they are being prepared for something greater. It is not the most enjoyable, but it is so necessary.
Take Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel. Their identity was rooted in their belonging to God because they were Israelites. Their calling was to be witnesses and examples for God in the midst of being exiles in Babylon. They stood for the Lord in a moment when many others bowed their knees to false gods. Then came their moment of forging. The cost for standing in their calling was to be thrown into a fiery furnace. They willingly and boldly stepped into it and in this moment of literal forging, Jesus was with them. He was in the fire with them as they were walking through the time of testing.
That is true for all of us who go through the forging process. The point is growth, and the promise is that God is with us through it all. Only then can we be made fit to rule.
Pillar IV - Reign
Here, at last, we arrive at where most attempt to begin. When we speak of reigning, it may be helpful to first delineate what we do not mean.
We do not mean authoritarianism. We do not mean being a tyrant who rules with an iron fist. We do not mean a cold and calloused finger-pointing dictator who simply commands but doesn’t do.
Reigning is the idea that in a certain sphere of life, say parenting, you know your identity as a child of God, you know your calling to be a parent, you have been forged in the fires of trial and difficulty, and have now been brought by God to a place where you can lead well and instruct others on how to do the same. The reigning pillar is often looked at as where we want to be immediately, but the hard truth is that there must be much growth before that will be possible.
"...if the goal of life is to give glory, kavod, to God in all aspects of life, you must be able to identify where you are so that you can then know where you are going and what God requires of you."
Look at the life of David. While he was just a shepherd boy, he knew that he loved and was loved by God. He was sure of his identity. Then the prophet Samuel, a man sent by God, came to his house and in a series of events wound up anointing him as future king of Israel. There was his calling. But then came the forging process. There was already a king of Israel, Saul, and he ended up attempting to kill David for many years, pursuing him over hills and valleys and through deserts and wilderness. Many of us would throw in the towel here. We wouldn’t see the value in continuing in the face of so much adversity. But David knew his identity, was sure of his calling, learned to live and thrive in the forging process, and God graciously brought him through. In the end, we see David reigning. He is leading the nation, loving his family, instructing others on how to love and worship God, and taking responsibility for both his and the nation's sins. Now, he isn’t perfect. He fails in gargantuan and catastrophic ways. This is real life. But because David had the first three Pillars firmly fixed, he was able to withstand the failures and eventually grow from them. This is reigning.
Now, a brief word of exhortation as we close.
The point of all of this is not simply to look at your life overall and say, “Yeah, I can see those four pillars in my life. I’m good to go and reign!” The truth of the matter is, these four pillars are not simply meant to be a grid that you lay over your life in its entirety. They are actually a lens by which you look at every facet of your life. Where am I as a father? Perhaps you are neck-deep in the forging process right now. Where am I as an employee? You could be feeling that you are walking in your calling and are preparing to be forged. Where are you as a son? You are likely experiencing the first three all at once! Either way, these are meant to be a way to view God’s hand in each and every area of your life.
And why is this important? Because if the goal of life is to give glory, kavod, to God in all aspects of life, you must be able to identify where you are so that you can then know where you are going and what God requires of you.
This is our prayer for you.
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