“And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law
as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
(Galatians 3:25, 26, NLT).
ONE TIME, Arthur Schopenhauer, the famous German nineteenth-century philosopher, was sitting in a park in the city of Frankfurt and, because of his shoddy physical appearance, a guard at the park assumed he was a vagabond. With an unfriendly tone of voice, the guard asked him, «Who are you?» In his distinctive pessimism, Schopenhauer answered, “I wish I knew.”
Who are we? John Stott quotes a summary of some of the answers that have been given to that question, compiled by Keith Thomas:
He points out that a human being was described by Aristotle as a political animal, by Thomas Willis as a laughing animal, by Benjamin Franklin as a tool-making animal, by Edmund Burke as a religious animal, and by James Boswell the gourmet, as a cooking animal.”
Apparently, they all agree on viewing humans as animals.
Again, let’s ask ourselves: Who are we? I believe the question deserves a clear answer. And the best answer will be given by Him who knows us best: our Creator. Thousands of years ago, Job the patriarch wondered, “What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should visit him every morning*” (Job 7:17, 18). Despite all his trials, when the storm sweeps through and the outlook seems dark, Job views himself as someone who holds a privileged position in God’s heart and is the object of divine scrutiny.
You might not be worth anything to many people; you might be a mere animal to others; someone might even think you are a vagabond; and you might be unable to understand and value yourself; but regardless of that, the God of heaven has decided to focus all His attention on you. Our Creator delights in watching over each of His children.
So when someone asks you who you are, you can say, “I am engraved in the Creator’s heart.” You are “the apple of His eye” (see Zechariah 2:8), the one who was “bought at a price” (see 1 Corinthians 6:20), the Lord’s “special treasure” (Exodus 19:5). And together we can all say with one voice that we are “children of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).
*John Stott, The Essential John Stott: The Contemporary Christian (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1999), p. 369.