The Road To Self-Discovery, A Lonely Path: Embrace Yourself

In the previous blog post titled “The Greatest Discovery on Earth: Self-Discovery,” we emphasized the importance of discovering who you are. In this part, we delve into the process of self-discovery, staying true to who and where you are.

The Call To Separation

The process of self-discovery and purpose usually begins with the call to separation.
In Genesis 12:1, the LORD instructs Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”
I can only imagine what was going through Abram’s mind at the time. Imagine having to leave everything you held dear, your socio-economic identity or class, your comfort zone to enter into uncertainty. Imagine the family and peer pressure thinking he must be crazy somehow. But unknown to him these were the things holding him back from his true self-discovery. They were like a band-aid to his bleeding heart for a higher purpose keeping him just comfortable enough not to question the status quo. God had to rip it off. For some of us, God will have to painfully rip off our entanglements through trials or storms of life but when we do it willingly, it is easier.
Looking at the bible I have seen a trend that when God wants to start something new with anyone, one of His first instructions usually involves separating the person from their usual environment. Examples include in marriage; the man is to leave his kindred to cleave to his wife and the two will become one. Also, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, Barnabas, the Ethiopian eunuch and so on. Each experienced a period of separation before embarking on their missions.

Facing Our Nakedness

God separates us to show us who we are. You’ll be amazed how afraid we are to look ourselves in the eye. This is why we are too afraid of criticism. It’s much easier to make the excuse “No one is perfect” because we are afraid of what we might find about ourselves if we look deep enough. Walking with God demands God’s kind of perfection which is different from and easier than the Human perspective of perfection.

In Genesis 3:9-10, the first question God ever asked Adam was, “Adam where are you?” Adam’s reply is mind-boggling! He tells God that he was afraid of God’s voice because he was naked, so he hid himself. So, the reason for his fear of God’s voice was his nakedness! He then made leaves to cover himself. Interestingly, this is the origin of the fall of man and consequently, man being lost to himself.

Have you considered what your answer would be to this question if God were to call you today saying, “Michael, where are you?” (You can insert your name). Amazingly, for many of us, our responses will not be far from Adam’s response. We are afraid to face our “naked” selves because we have bought ourselves some artificial coverings to hide our true selves from the rest of the world, to appear appealing and in conformity with our fears, environment or what people expect of us. It is such a scary thing to look at our nakedness; scary to look at our true picture and position where God has destined for us, so we rather hide from it. We feel less guilty that way at least.

Like the man in the parable of the talents, we hide our “talents” out of fear of how disappointed we might feel to see how far we are from achieving our true potential. We fear that we might fail if we let go of our comforts to pursue our dreams. We fear what other people will think if we fail or do not meet their expectations of us. We fear we might walk alone.

Embracing Your True Self Without Shame: True Perfection

We are not truly free until we come to that place of being naked but not ashamed – where we embrace our true selves like a baby without fear. This is the place of perfected love, a place of sincerity and oneness of heart in purpose. Where you become so vulnerable in God’s hands knowing that nothing can hurt you anymore because your true covering and defence is the love of God, not the leaves of self-defence. We are dead to the world. We enter into God’s rest.

Songs of Solomon 2:4 tells us that, God brought us to his banquet table and his banner over us is Love. 1 John 4:8 says that perfect love casts away all fears. In this place, you can say like David in Psalms 118:6, “The Lord is on my side, I shall not be afraid of what man can do to me” – You can let out your inner eagle! David would rather fall into God’s hand for discipline than fall into humans (2 Samuel 24:14). This is what true perfection looks like before God. God knows you better than you know yourself, so why hide from Him?

Separation For Divine Purpose: Holiness

Being separated or in solitude is not so much about a physical position but about a spiritual disposition. A lot of people miss it because they are scared to lose people or let go of the entanglements that had made them comfortable with who or where they are now.

Being alone with God is a sacred call to consecration and Holiness. By holiness here, I do not refer to sinlessness, but rather an irretrievable separation and commitment to fulfilling God’s Purpose for your life. I am not referring to sin as we know it because what we call sin may be different from what God calls sin.

God is the one who determines what is sin to the one He has called (Romans 14:4). For example, Moses died because he struck the rock twice when God asked him to do so just once. He had results, but that was the end of his ministry because God demanded a higher level of consecration from Him. It can sound scary but at this level, you answer to God alone. He becomes your Master and He alone decides whether you are standing or falling (and not external opinion from the press, social media, church members, family etc.). The good news is that He is able to keep you from falling if you remain naked and submissive before Him! Halleluiah!

A Call To Divine Fellowship And Partnership

God wants to partner with us to help us discover who we are and change our world according to His original plan. He wants to fellowship with you because you originated from Him and the more you know Him, the more you discover about yourself. It may sound paradoxical, but it is true that the more of God we know, the more we find ourselves because we were made in His image and likeness.

You will draw strength from this fellowship when you face challenges that will try to make you doubt yourself. You will draw strength from here when the whole world seems to be against you, and people talk evil against you. When you locate yourself in this place, you become dead to the world and the world is dead to you; you become a stakeholder in His Kingdom; you embrace yourself in God and God can entrust you with the keys of His Kingdom.