Who are you?  Who do you feel like you are?  What are your dreams?  Your wishes?  Your hopes?

Who do you see yourself as?  What do you see yourself doing?  Where do you see yourself with your walk with family and friends; with your walk with God.

We want to think of ourselves in good places. With good hopes and dreams and futures.

But perhaps, just perhaps, you have heard the whispers.

You aren’t any good.

You are worthless.

You’ve done too much. God can’t love you. . . . .can’t use you. . . . you are of no worth to Him.

Or anyone.

Just give up. . . . quit. . . . stop trying. . . . what’s it matter. . . . . you can’t do it anyway.

Perhaps today, you’ve heard those whispers in your head.  If so, listen to what Paul tells us in Colossians today:

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

You were once far away from God.  You were his enemy. That’s a big word.

But you were.

And so was I. So were we all. Because we were all dead in our sins. We were all far away from God. We.  Were.  His.  Enemies.

And how did God respond? By giving us His son to reconcile us to Him. To forgive us. To bring us into the throne room of grace. To make us clean.

To change us from being His enemies to being His children.

Today, when you hear the whispers, remember who you are. Remember what’s been done for you. Remember what Jesus has done for you.  You are forgiven.  You are restored.  You are His child and you are loved.

Don’t listen to the whispers.  Listen to voice of God here through His word.  You are redeemed, you are restored, you are made clean and made whole.

Don’t listen to the whispers.  Listen to God.  And know that you are no longer His enemy.  You are His child.

Go out and live like the loved child of God that you are.