Answer
Before we look at what the Bible says about an individual, we need to dismantle a concept that is growing in popularity within modern Christianity. A misleading message, espoused by various media preachers, best-selling authors, and prosperity teachers, is that it is ALL about me. God is about me. The Bible is about me. The universe is about me. Within this ideology is the misguided idea that God exists for me. Instead of God creating man in His image, we have tried to recreate God in our image.
God has much to say about us as a human race, though, and there is much we can learn about ourselves as individuals in the Bible. When we read what the Bible says about us, we must use the lenses of reverence and humility. God’s decision to communicate with us is not a cause for arrogance on our part but of infinite gratitude. In order to understand what God says about me, I must understand what God says about Himself. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter. Unless God is who He says He is, then it matters little who He says I am.
One thing that God says about me is that I am created in His image (Genesis 1:27). God spoke most of creation into being, but when He created mankind, He did it differently. He got down in the dirt, formed a man from the clay He had created, and then breathed His own life into that man. At that moment, man became “a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). God later fashioned a woman from the man’s rib and joined the man and woman together as husband and wife (Genesis 2:21–24). These human beings were separate from the animals and plants that also had life. The man and woman had the breath of God in their lungs. They were given an eternal spirit, just as God has. Those spirits would live forever, and it was God’s plan that they exist eternally in fellowship with Him.
Another thing that God says about me is that I am a sinner, separated from God. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and that act brought sin into God’s perfect world (Genesis 2:16–17; Genesis 3). From that time on, all human beings are born with their first parents’ sin nature (Romans 5:12). The sin nature that we inherit—and the sin that we personally commit—separates us from God’s holy presence (Romans 3:23; 6:23).
Another thing that God says about me is that my Creator loves me. He does not have to. But His very nature is love (1 John 4:8), and He sets His love upon us. In His love, God actively works for our lasting good, even to the point of sacrificing Himself to save us (Romans 5:8).
Another thing that God says about me is that He designed me to fulfill a unique purpose (Psalm 139:13–16). God has made each of us exactly the way He wants for His glory and to bring about His will. Even our struggles and frailties exist to accentuate His grace and cause us to cling to Him (see Exodus 4:11).
Then God demonstrated His love in the most generous act the world will ever know. He sent His own Son, Jesus, to earth to take the punishment our sins deserve (John 3:16–18; Colossians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Something else that God says about me is that I belong to one of two groups: the children of God or the children of the devil (1 John 3:7–10). The children of God are those who have faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection. They have received a full pardon, the forgiveness of sin, and eternal life (John 1:12). They are adopted into God’s family (Romans 10:9–13). The children of the devil are those who reject Christ and His offer of salvation. They are still in their sins and under the condemnation of God. Colossians 3:1–17 explains the difference between those under the wrath of God and those who have been restored by God.
So, what God says about me depends upon my standing with Christ. To those who reject Him, He says, “Repent and turn to Me” (see Acts 3:19). To those who receive Him, He says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” (Luke 5:20) and “Be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16). God’s children are already adopted, justified, and dearly loved. But He wants His children to take on a family resemblance. He saves us so that He can conform us into the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
When I have been adopted by God as His child, He has much to say about me. I have a new identity (John 3:3). I am no longer a child of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), destined for an eternity without God (Matthew 25:41). I am “in Christ,” covered by His righteousness and fully accepted by God (Philippians 1:1). God says that I am no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1); He no longer sees my imperfections; He sees the righteousness of His Son instead (Ephesians 2:13; Hebrews 8:12). God says that I am more than a conqueror “through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). He says that I “may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
On Judgment Day, what God says about me will make all the difference for eternity. God’s words to people on that Day will be either, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:23) or, “Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23). When we stand before God, what He says about us will be determined by our relationship, by faith, to Jesus Christ (John 3:18). God sent His one and only Son to pay the price we owed. We must answer this question: “What will I do with Christ?”
