WHO

AM I? Our Daily Bread  Teen
INTRODUCTION
D
oes our Instagram account make us who we are? Or
is it our school grades? Or our friends’ opinions?
Or the amount of friends we have? Or does it come
down to what our parents say about us? Is it a bit of a mix
of all these things? . . . Where do you find out who you
really are?
The Bible tells us there is a better, more secure and much
more satisfying place to find our identity: knowing Jesus for
ourselves. He gives us the best identity—one that doesn’t
depend on what anyone else thinks or on how well we feel
we’re doing in life. It is a gift from Him that lasts forever.
When we trust our life to Him, who does He make us? God’s
own child!
Come and check it out for yourself . . .

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 Psalm 118
1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.
2
Let Israel say: ‘His love endures for ever.’ 3 Let the house of Aaron say: ‘His love
endures for ever.’ 4 Let those who fear the Lord say: ‘His love endures for ever.’
5
When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
6

7
The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.
8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. 9 It is better to
take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. 10 All the nations surrounded
me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 11 They surrounded me on
every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 12 They swarmed
around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in
the name of the Lord I cut them down. 13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me. 14 The Lord is my strength and my defence; he has
become my salvation.
15
Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The Lord’s
right hand has done mighty things! 16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the
Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!’ 17 I will not die but live, and will
proclaim what the Lord has done. 18 The Lord has chastened me severely, but
he has not given me over to death. 19 Open for me the gates of the righteous; I
will enter and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord through
which the righteous may enter. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has
done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very
day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
25
Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the
26

Lord we bless you. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
28
You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.
 IT’S ABOUT ME The Lord has done this (PSALM 118:23).

A
young guy took a course on preparing sermons and preaching.
When he started, he was a bit full of himself. In one of the early
classes, he gave a sermon which was full of passion. He sat down
feeling pretty good about it. The teacher took a moment before giving any
feedback. Then he said: “That was a powerful sermon. It was well thought
through and moving. The only problem is that God was not the subject of
a single one of your sentences.”
It’s a problem all of us struggle with at times. We easily become the main character
in our story. And so our focus is on me, me, me. We realise that God is generally ‘in
charge’, but we live like everything really depends on us.
The Bible tells us that God is the real main character of our lives. Even our trust of
Him is done “in the name of the L ord”—in His power (PSALM 118:10-11). God gives us
our salvation. God rescues us. God meets our needs. “The L ord has done this” (V.23).
So the pressure’s off. We don’t need to worry, compare, do more, work harder or sort
ourselves out. God is in charge. We need only to trust and follow His lead.  WC

Thinking it over . . .
When are you most likely to think you’re the main character in your life?
How can you keep God as the very centre of everything?

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I LAID THE EARTH’S

FOUNDATION? TELL ME, IF YOU UNDERSTAND. JOB 38:4
 Ephesians 1:3-10
3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of
the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he
predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he
lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made
known to us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect
when the times reach their fulfilment—to bring unity to all
things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
 FREEING TRUTH
His glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (EPHESIANS 1:6).

A
Christian girl had been feeling down about herself. She was unhappy
about her life in general, but she was especially fed up with how
little she seemed to be growing in her relationship with God.
One morning she looked at herself for a long time in the mirror. Then, very slowly,
she said, “God, I thank You that I am myself and can never be anybody else.”
That was her moment of freeing self-acceptance. She realised that by God’s design
she was an absolutely unique person, a human being who belonged to Jesus and
could never be replaced or copied.
Do you give yourself a hard time because you aren’t as close to God as you think you
ought to be? Do you see yourself as a second-rate Christian, falling short when you
compare yourself to the rest of your youth group? Do you struggle to pray, to share
Jesus, to get involved at church? We can move beyond self-rejection and enjoy self-
acceptance when we put our lives in Jesus’ hands.
“In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (EPHESIANS 1:7). We are accepted and
chosen by Him (VV.4-6). If Jesus has accepted us, surely we can accept ourselves, as
we are! He will do the work of bringing about change in us in His perfect timing.
That’s the freeing truth.  VG

To pray about . . .
Father, I often doubt that You could ever use someone like me. But You sent Your Son
to die for me, so please forgive my doubts. Help me trust You, wherever You take me.

IN [JESUS] WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS

BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, IN ACCORDANCE
WITH THE RICHES OF GOD’S GRACE. EPHESIANS 1:7
 1 John 2:28-3:3
28
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he
appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at
his coming.
29
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone
who does what is right has been born of him.
3 1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that
we should be called children of God! And that is what we
are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not
know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and
what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know
that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify
themselves, just as he is pure.
 FINDING MYSELF
We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is
(1 JOHN 2:2).

W
ho am I? That’s the question an old stuffed animal asks himself in
the book Nothing. Left in a dusty corner of an attic, the animal
hears people call him “nothing” and thinks that’s his name:
Nothing.
Meeting with other animals sparks memories. Nothing realises that he used to have
a tail, whiskers and stripes. But it’s not until he meets a tabby cat who helps him
find his way home that Nothing remembers who he truly is: a stuffed cat named
Toby. His owner fixes him up, sewing on new ears, tail, whiskers and stripes.
Whenever I read this book, I think about my own identity. Who am I? John, writing
to Christians, said that God has called us His children (1 JOHN 3:1). We don’t fully
understand that identity, but when we see Jesus, we will be like him (V.2). Just like
Toby the cat, one day we will fully enjoy the identity we were meant to have as
members of God’s family—which has been blurred by sin. For now, we can
understand who we are in part, and we can recognise the image of God in each
other. But one day, when we see Jesus, we will be perfect, not just looking like God’s
children, but living like it too. We will be made new.  AP

Thinking it over . . .
Where do I find my identity? According to the Bible, how does God view me?
Check out John 15:15, Galatians 3:23-29 and Ephesians 1:1-2:10.

IN CHRIST JESUS YOU ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD

THROUGH FAITH. GALATIANS 3:26
 Romans 8:9-17
9
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm
of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to
death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in
you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is
not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to
the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live
in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your
adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 The Spirit
himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if
we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with
Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also
share in his glory.
 ALWAYS A CHILD
OF GOD
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (ROMANS 8:14).

I
remember one particular church service I went to with my parents.
During one prayer, the service leader told us all to hold hands. As I
stood, with one hand in my mum’s and one in my dad’s, I was hit with
the realisation that I will always be their child. Even as I got older and
maybe lived elsewhere, nothing would change that.
I then realised that not only am I their daughter, but I will also always be a child of God.
Paul wanted the people in the church at Rome to understand that their identity was
based on being adopted members of God’s family (ROMANS 8:15). Because they had
been born of the Spirit (V.14), they didn’t need to keep living like they were trapped
by their old ways. Instead, through the gift of the Spirit in them, they were “heirs
of God and co-heirs with Christ” (V.17).
To those who follow Jesus, what difference does this make? All the difference! Our
identity as children of God changes how we see ourselves and the world. Knowing
that we are part of God’s family helps us to step out of our comfort zone as we follow
Him. We don’t need to be afraid of the other kids at school—because God, our
Father, is with us! And we don’t need to worry what others think of us—God has
called us His own children!
Today, why not think about what it means to be God’s child?  ABP

To pray about . . .
Father, help me to live out my identity as Your child.
Help me to live by Your Spirit, that I might share Your love and hope.

SEE WHAT GREAT LOVE THE FATHER HAS LAVISHED ON US,

THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD! 1 JOHN 3:1
 Matthew 4:18-25
18
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two
brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were
casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 ‘Come, follow
me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ 20 At once
they left their nets and followed him.
21
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of
Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father
Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately
they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every
disease and illness among the people. 24 News about him spread all
over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various
diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those
having seizures, and the paralysed; and he healed them. 25 Large
crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region
across the Jordan followed him.
 WHO ARE YOU?
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people”
(MATTHEW 4:19).

I
f asked, “Who are you?” my guess is that you would tell me a little
about yourself and what you do. “I’m at secondary school”, “My
favourite subject is history” or “I play football”. But that’s not really
who you are—it’s what you do. Which leads to the question: If what you do
is who you are, who will you be when you stop doing it?!
Who you really are is found in your relationship to Jesus. Our identity with Him
should drive how we live. Take Matthew, for example. As a tax collector during the
rule of the Roman Empire, his life was driven by greed. But everything changed the
day Jesus showed up and invited Matthew to follow Him (MATTHEW 9:9). Suddenly
Matthew had a whole new identity as one of Jesus’ friends! And he wasn’t the only
one. We also read about four fishermen in Matthew 4:18-25—Peter, Andrew, James
and John—who left their nets to follow Him.
Jesus is amazing, and He is still looking for more people to join Him. He wants to
make something of your life by giving you the identity and purpose of being His
friend. It doesn’t mean stopping doing your school work and your hobbies, but it
does mean that you will do everything—all of life—with and for Him.
So next time someone asks, “Who are you?” you can tell them, “I’m a follower of
Jesus”!  JS

Thinking it over . . .
What do you say when people ask who you are? What might it look like if the
first thing you told people about yourself was, “I’m a follower of Jesus”?

JOIN WITH ME IN SUFFERING, LIKE A GOOD SOLDIER

OF CHRIST JESUS. 2 TIMOTHY 2:3
 FOCUS
ARTICLE

THE DAY MY
INSTAGRAM
ACCOUNT WAS
HACKED

A
couple of days ago, I woke up to loads of messages on my phone
telling me that my Instagram account had been hacked.
After I’d gone to bed the night before, my account had been taken over
by an unknown person who started to upload photos in my name. It was really
upsetting to see strange photos of ads for phone covers in an unknown language
on my Instagram feed. In just one night, I had lost my Instagram identity which
I had painstakingly built over years.
I couldn’t control what was being uploaded because the account had been taken
over. The user settings had been tampered with so that while my feed was still
viewable, I was logged out.
I tried everything I knew: changing my log-in details, requesting a password
reset and reporting the user to Instagram itself. In the meantime, more and
more people were messaging me about the situation, flooding my phone with
screenshots of my hijacked account, making me even more anxious. Frantic, I
paced up and down my room mumbling to myself, “What am I going to do?”
Then a friend came round and asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks.
“What are you so anxious about? It’s only an Instagram account.”
My immediate reaction was to shout back, “It’s not just an Instagram account!”
It was my Instagram account! Filled with memories and my personality. I
worried that I would never be able to get any of this back, and at that moment,
the loss felt too big.
Yet, I knew my friend was right. It was only an Instagram account. Why was I
getting so frustrated and upset?
After spending a whole day without access to Instagram, I discovered the
answer. My account meant so much to me because it had become my public
identity. It was a collection of photos I had directed, edited and shared that I
believed represented my life. Not that this identity was false, but it was
something that took a lot of work to keep up. In carefully selecting, editing and
making every effort to make my feed look effortless, I had allowed the process
to become a major part of who I was.
The fact that I was so upset about not being able to access my account also
showed me how much time I had been spending on it, to the point where I was
totally obsessed with it.
This entire episode revealed how easily I had been distracted from my walk with
God. It frightened me that something seemingly harmless could use up so much
of my time, emotions and energy. I had stressed over an identity that was
shallow and temporary, instead of rejoicing over how I had been made right with
God through Jesus’ death on the cross.
A day later, Instagram restored my account. All the strange photos were
removed, and I got access to my feed again. While I still do not know how my
account had been hacked into, the episode served as a glaring reminder of how
my attitude towards Instagram had to change. What I had once thought of as my
public identity, will now simply be a place to share my life in Jesus and appreciate
what others put up.
It’s great to have my account back, but what’s greater is the unchanging,
un-hackable, unshakable identity that I have in Jesus as God’s own child!
Scripture taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® 
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© 2019 by Our Daily Bread Ministries. All rights reserved.

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