Coffee House Talk

We had a coffee house in the administration building here at Bethany College. The coffee house setting proved to be a great place for amazing discussion and building friendships. We all ended up having some great discussions about different situations and feelings that come up in life and how those situations and the feelings that we have as a result of these situations change us and shape us into who we are as a person, as a follower of Christ.


Who Are We? Who Do We See Ourselves As?

I feel that it is important to start here with the questions “Who are we? Who do we see ourselves as?” I think that by allowing each of us to ask ourselves these question it helps us to really look inside of ourselves behind all of the masks, walls, defenses and fronts that we put up for people around us and really think about who we see ourselves as and who we think we are rather than who the people around us think we are because of the false masks and walls that we put up in order to please others. I really encourage anyone that is reading this to take a few moments and think and ask yourself those questions “Who am I? Who do I see myself as?” Our conversation lead us to the topic of drugs or alcohol and how some people say that when someone has been abusing one of these substances they say that the person revealed during the time that they are under the influence, is the person that they really are emerges. I believe this is because they aren’t thinking about keeping up the masks and walls because they are not thinking clearly during this time. In some ways I do agree with that statement but I disagree with it in many ways. I agree that when a person is under the influence that there are masks that come off and walls that come down but I have also seen that a person’s morals and how they will react to different situations changes as well. One example is that a person who has given into temptation and is under the influence will sometimes not stick to their Christian morals at that time and say or do things that they wouldn’t normally do because of their morals and Christian values. In this situation I don’t believe that what others see is who that individual really is as a person, but rather who we all really are as mankind. When someone is intoxicated I believe that what we are really seeing is how we as humans have been born into a world of sin, tragedy and devastation. So instead of seeing who that individual really is while they are intoxicated, we are seeing who we are as mankind; we are imperfect beings that have been born into sin and are in desperate need of a savior that will guide us and never run out of love and patience as we continue to make mistakes and sin throughout our lives.

Who Has God Created Us To Be?

Once we have allowed ourselves to ask who we are and who we really see ourselves as I believe it is important to continue on to asking “Who Has God Created Me To Be?” and “Am I Allowing God To Shape Me Into Who He Has Created Me To Be?” We need to make sure that we ask this question with an open mind and an acceptance of who God is shaping us into or we won’t get very far. We also had to be completely open and honest with ourselves when we asked who we really are and who do we see ourselves as and that is a hard thing to do a lot of the time because sometimes we find things that we don’t like or things that we know we need to change but aren’t quite ready to let go of. Asking ourselves “Who has God created me to be?” can be even harder than the previous questions in my opinion. I believe that it can be harder to ask this question honestly, and completely pursue an answer because all of us have things in our lives that we have planned out and sometimes our plans are not even close to what God has planned in order to continue shaping us into who He created us to be. Letting go of our plans in order to allow ourselves to be open to God’s work in shaping us into who he created us to be can be incredibly painful and scary because we need to just rely on faith that God knows what he is doing and will take us in the right direction at this point. One major thing that makes it hard for many of us is the fact that we are no longer in control, instead we just need to trust that God knows what he is doing. Even though this process is terrifying sometimes I believe that we as Christians really need to make an everyday effort to ask this question and then allow God to work within us.

I want to encourage the people that are reading this to think about all of the questions asked here and then use the comments box to respond to them. The reason that I think it is important to respond to the questions in the comment box is it will help us to have a better understanding of who the people in our community really are as individuals and I also think that the way we respond to each other and help others in areas that they struggle in will also allow us to see more clearly who we are as a community.

I also want to point something out before I finish writing this post and that is that what is written here is my own personal opinion and I am in no way saying what I think is the only truth, it is just my opinion and that is why I encourage people to read this and comment on it in order to share their opinion.

That’s all for tonight.

Have a good one!

-Aaron.