Who are you and whose are you?

Norah Summers July 24, 2025 4 0

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Listen to this daily worship

Psalm 15 (NIVUK)

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

2 The one whose way of life is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbour,
    and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
    but honours those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.

This could be summed up in the phrase ‘Remember who you are’.

We don’t need to have any position of worldly privilege or any title, or any self-importance, to have a proper self-respect.

‘Love God, and love your neighbour as you love yourself’ – if you don’t love yourself, how can you properly love your neighbour?

This is not about narcissism, which actually does the opposite, despising others. I name no names, but examples are not hard to find these days.

As for the judgement and abuse which proliferate on social media – what a huge issue this has become. I often wonder what opinion do the perpetrators have, or have they been given, of themselves that they have to poison the lives of others? What enjoyment do they have in life?

Two days ago we looked at the verse in Proverbs about being cheerful – I seem to have made myself gloomy today, with considering how people have such negative images of themselves – so many told they are worthless, or treated as if they are.

On Sunday we were reminded of the fruit of the Spirit, and indeed it is that Spirit that we need to lift us from gloom into the enjoyment of knowing who we are, and even more whose we are.

Prayer:

Loving God, may we never forget who we are. May we remember that we are made in your image, so we must be ‘worth it’ – not in self-aggrandisement but in acknowledgement that we are your creation — your children, ‘forgiven, loved and free’.

Read also the hymn ‘I come with joy, a child of God,’ (Church Hymnary 4, 656).