This verse from the Bible has been a point of confusion for me for quite a long time. I remember as a child singing it as a chorus in church, and feeling rather odd saying the words "I am God."
When God commanded Moses to go free his people from the Egyptians, Moses wanted to know what to say to them. God replied, "I AM who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.” Another version of this has the verse saying "I will be what I will be," as if to tell us "Hey, I'm God, I need no description!"
In the New Testament, Jesus was teaching on the Mount of Olives when he said to the throngs gathered, "'Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."
And so my question is, is it our time to blaspheme just like Jesus, and recognize the divinity which lay inside us? Saying "I am God" - to ourselves or to others, may sound strange or even incomprehensible to others, but I believe that God is Spirit and that all things are connected, so in a real way, I am God. People may respond, "Well, you're not all powerful, you don't perform miracles, you don't control the universe." But they are viewing God behind the lens of the supernatural, God-man in the sky who is a literal, judgmental person. But if I see God as Spirit and that all is one with God, I can say "I am God." If I'm uncomfortable with that phrase, I can use "I am Love," because according to Scripture, God is Love. Or I can distill it even further and simply say "I AM."
For a long time I've been uncomfortable with labels, whether it be as a fundamentalist Christian or otherwise. Even my name is a burden sometimes and it in itself does not accurately contain all that I AM.
Perhaps it would help if we could remember one of these statements throughout our day:
- "Be still and know that I am God."
- "Be still and know that I am Love."
- "Be still and know that I am.
We say these things not because we're having a power or authority trip, but because we realize that we are one with the living Spirit which is God.
2 comments:
It is so easy to take a few verses from the Bible and make fun of them. But hey, just because you grew up with a legalist father who used the odd scripture to control everyone in his family doesnt mean that you have to do the same. Give your head a shake man, you know what is right.
Hello Anonymous (who I'm pretty sure I know),
Thanks for your "kind" response (Give your head a shake? Which Bible verse did you take that one from?)
It's easy for any of us to take a verse from the Bible and make it more important than the rest. Re-read my post, sir, and you'll see that I was not in any way making fun of these verses; rather I was using them to make my point.
And with all due respect, don't bring my father into this if you're not going to be constructive with your comments. Though you may have observed him on many occasions, you don't know how I grew up. Scripture wasn't the only thing (or really the largest thing) that he used to damage my family.
Mark Andrew
Post a Comment