My genetic code has some pretty good stuff in it.  We’ve got great metabolism.  We’re pretty smart and without a propensity for cancer.  Good stuff in there.  It’s not all good though. There’s depression and alcoholism.  It’s in the code and something I’m mindful of as I raise my children. They may have predilections, natural leanings that not everyone has to watch out for.  

While I may have a natural bent toward alcoholism, I have never taken that to mean that I am an alcoholic or that I have no choice but to become one.  While my DNA may have the marker, my choices make the distinction.  While there are many aspects of life– from DNA to abuses, sins, and failings– that contribute to the whole picture of who I am, the final distinction lies in the choices I make in light of all those.

I am who God says I am.  Not who I think I am, or who my genes say I am, or who my enemies past and present claim I am, or even who I wish I could be.  I am who He says I am and I will never be truly alive until I take up that mantel and walk in the fullness of it.  Until I make choices that coincide with that identity.

I believe God is calling my son to lead.  He’s a more reserved type.  He is a homebody and only approves of a spotlight when it’s shining onto a basketball court.  He’s not looking to lead.  

Every day we make choices about what we believe and what we will and won’t become.  Every day God presents a mantel, a distinction for us to own and wear.  He says, “I have made you new and this is who you are.”  And we choose each day whether or not we believe Him.  

“You are a leader.”  No, I’m not the right person to lead.  I’m too shy or too quiet, too bumbling or too common.  “You are a mentor.”  I haven’t done nearly enough right to be able to show someone else how to. “You are a teacher, a parent, a role model, an evangelist, a missionary, a prayer warrior, a light on a hill.”

For some the trouble is far more basic.  

But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.              Colossians 1:22

You are forgiven.  You are without blemish.  You are free.

You are who He says you are.  Sometimes those things He says are too wonderful to believe, and sometimes they are too daunting.  Sometimes they may seem like they’ll take too much work. And sometimes we may think no amount of work could accomplish it.  

We are a product of our choices, not our DNA or our past, not our tendencies or our sin.  To each on any day God says this is your mantel, this is who you are and what you can become.  What will you choose? Are you prepared to choose it again and again?

Choose you this day whom you will serve.                           Joshua 24:15