You Are Defined by God and God Alone

by Jon Walker

He has identified us as his own by placing the   Holy Spirit in our hearts . . .  2 Corinthians 1:22 (NLT)

You are not defined by your feelings. You are not defined by the opinions of others. You are not defined by your circumstances. You are not defined by your successes or failures. You are not defined by the car you drive, or the money you make, or the house you say you own (even though the bank really owns it).

You are defined by God and God alone. He identifies you as his own (2 Corinthians 1:22).

The thing is, if you don’t know who you are, then you are vulnerable to other people telling you who you are. But the concrete, solid, gospel truth is that you are who God says you are and no one else has a vote in the matter.

Proof of Ancient Bethlehem Discovered in Jerusalem

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IFCJ

Imagine living in a place so rich with history that significant archeological finds are commonplace. That’s the reality in Israel.

Case in point: the recent discovery of a seal, or bulla, that dates from the 7th or 8th century BCE found in routine excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the walls around Jerusalem National Park.

Eli Shukron, director of the excavation for the IAA, explains the significance of the discovery, “This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods.”

For archaeologists this is important because the small clay seal provides evidence of what Christians and Jews have long known to be true -- that Bethlehem wasn’t a “fabled biblical town,” but a real bustling city filled with commerce and trade with neighboring towns.