If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

John 5:31-32 (NASB)

As I read these words in John’s gospel this morning, my mind flooded with memories of all the good opinions of people I have desired. How I longed for my Daddy to think well of me. Then it was my school mates. Then it was a boyfriend (or two or a few). Then it was a mother-in-law, a boss, best friends, my pastor, and his wife, and so on. You have your own list.

Carl Jung famously said, “The world will ask you who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you.” He was right. The point is, we don’t realize how subtle this is. Nor, in my case, how very hungry we are to know.

We look to others to ask who we are

In my first book, The Woman God Designed, I shared how part of my new reality as a reborn spirit was learning to look into the Father’s eyes to see who I am. It was he Holy Spirit who showed me how I had, all my life, looked into the eyes of others for confirmation of my identity and value:

Most of us are a composite of many role models: our mothers, women we admire, friends we love. We have undoubtedly absorbed some of the daily manna we are fed by advertising media and the incessant images put before us. Our souls are also deeply shaped as a response to the men in our lives, whether fathers, brothers, friends or lovers. By this I mean we often look into their eyes to see who we are, or should be, and try to conform to that image. In the space of one day we can make the dizzying journey from wanting to please God, to wanting to please ourselves to wanting to please mother or boss or husband or daddy, and all of these even change with the seasons of our lives. It does not make for a restful existence.

I know, because I started out wanting to be like my mother. Then adolescence changed my mind, and I tried on what would make me popular in school. Then as I grew into young womanhood I wanted to be like Ayn Rand, then Eleanor Roosevelt, then Jackie O, and finally Martha Stewart overlaid on the good looks of Natalie Wood. But none of these fit, nor gave me joy. My target kept moving, and all my efforts to reinvent myself ended up with mixed results and failed to produce the kind of character and goodness and strength I longed to possess — until I made my target the Word of God. It was like coming home.*

We’ve all wondered what others are thinking and saying about us. At times we have been either blessed or hurt to actually find out.

In the beginning, souls were meant to first understand their identity from father and mother, and especially father. Each was meant to contribute in their unique way to your education about yourself, but for reasons hard to explain, father’s view of you is the one that seemed to lay the foundation. Even people who don’t like the idea of a patriarchal society feel, and often admit to that in private. (Not too long ago pop culture loved to ask, “Who’s your daddy?” Why wasn’t it “Who’s your Momma?” I don’t think anyone knows, but there’s a piece of my proof.)

Of course, that design worked in a world that was healthy and whole. We live in a broken world, a world that needs a reliable dad. If you’ve read the things Jesus said in the gospel of John, then you know his passion was to give the world just that — a reliable dad. His dad, actually, the most wonderful dad ever.

Frankly, when I get to heaven the first question I want to ask Jesus is, “At what moment did you realize God was your true father?” In his time on earth Jesus took more ridicule for believing and claiming that than anything else. He had to be sure.

Jesus relied on only one witness to who he was

Jesus, a human like you and me, had a very special mission on this earth. He needed a true witness to who he knew he was and what he was called to do. Because he was immersed in a world full of people whose opinions and “truth” or “witness” about him could be anywhere from snap judgments to intimate study of you. From unreliable criticism to equally unreliable admiration from afar. From hearts prone to flattery, envy, posturing for his good opinion, or other political motives.

And so are you.

Now, there are absolutely reliable voices around you, from souls who sincerely love you enough to tell you the truth as they see it. I have been so blessed by the testimony of faithful friends through the years, who have given me the gift of both the good news and the bad. Those things remind me of the special “weed and seed” fertilizer I spread in my yard yesterday, that promised to kill the weeds and bless the good grass seed to grow, grow, grow.

But beyond all human testimony, there is the testimony of your heavenly Father. Have you sought it?

Without that testimony, would Jesus have been able to do what he did? Would he have found the courage, the passion, the permission to do what he was called to do? I believe this was one reason for those pre-dawn prayer meetings with the Father.

Day after day, challenged by family, friends, the religious experts, and perhaps his own questions, Jesus no doubt needed the quiet hour with only one voice speaking to his heart. The Father reminding Jesus of His love. Of his calling. Of his true identity. He not only loved on the Father and loved him, he leaned on him, and entrusted himself only to Him in this regard.

And if he needed that from the Father, so do you and me.

Your life is no less important to the Father.

Your identity is solidly fixed in the Father’s mind, and that identity is the place from where you can live with purpose, courage, and security.

Please imitate your big brother Jesus, and seek the Father’s testimony about who you are. There is nothing like the truth coming from His Spirit to nurture your spirit.

There is another who testifies of me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about me is true.

Indeed.

I bless you, Beloved, to hear, receive and trust the Father’s testimony about you.

God loves the whole world, which is why John 3:16 says he sent his Son into the world — to bring you home to Him! However, the privilege of calling God “Father” is only given to those who believe Jesus is the son of God, and have asked Him to live in their heart. Scripture is clear on this point. You can read all about it in the gospel of John.

*From Chapter Three, What Kind Of Woman Will I Be? in Tonia’s book, The Woman God Designed