Mark 6:32-44 "I.D."

For all our efforts to modify behavior, manage sin and become the kind of people we can be proud of (while disguising all the parts that suggest we might not be), there's a simple power in seeing ourselves as God does. 

Recognizing our identity as Image Bears of the Divine, and awaking to our true selves, transforms us deeply. But failing to see ourselves in the proper light leaves us believing all kinds of cheap, flimsy ideas. And we'll live like it those ideas are true.

Spend some time as a group discussing this concept, and its practical aspects. For some in the group, this may be a new idea, for others a familiar exercise they have either begun to embrace, or still only "know about". For it to stick, you may find your group needs to become a place of encouragement and reminding. 

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

-Proverbs 27:17

Thaw

• Have you noticed your mood changing as the weather has?
• What does your answer tell you about how we perceive reality?

Read

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 -18 
• Ephesians 2:13 
• Ephesians 2:19
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Why did Paul find it necessary to remind his brothers and sisters of these things?
• What are the primary determiners of how we think of ourselves, and what challenges does that present us?

Thought Experiment

• You find an old, tarnished, bronze lamp at an antique store. You strike a deal and buy it. Once home, you decide it needs polished and in keeping with the Hollywood Genie trope, you rub it to bring it to a shine. Out pops, or puffs, a Genie. Its appearance, depending on your preference, is either blue and masculine or female and a bit ditzy. Its voice is either Robin Williams or Barbara Eden accordingly. Your choice. You are told you get not three, but one wish. Additionally you cannot just wish for any thing. You may only wish to change something about what you are as a person. 
• Share with the group what that wish would be, and afterward, spend some time discussing what this wish reveals to you about how you see yourself and what you think is necessarily missing from your identity. 
• As a group, listen for themes and patterns in each others' sharing, trying to recognize how your group sees itself and what's longed for as a small sample of society.

Apply

• How can this group help you hold onto your identity as a child of God throughout the week, and why might that be helpful?
• How does recognizing our status as God's set apart ones (not superior ones, but set apart ones!) affect our closest relationships?