Note: this is Part 2 in a series. Here are links to Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.

On Thursday morning I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment when an advertisement at a bus stop caught my attention.

The spot promoted a medical practice specializing in orthopedics, the branch dealing with muscloskeletal issues. It featured an athlete getting ready for a run.

And scrawled in large capital letters were these words:

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BE WHAT YOU WERE

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The ad appeals to people who for one reason or another have lost the ability to do something they love.

The photo above identifies running as the lost ability. But other spots in their campaign show people gardening, picking up young children, painting in a studio, playing basketball.

The message is clear. Through illness or injury you’ve lost the ability to do something you love. Come to our orthopedic practice and we’ll restore your ability to live like you used to.

What the ad says is: Be what you were.

But what the ad means is: Do what you did.

It’s funny, isn’t it, how we make our being synonymous with our doing, how we define our very selves by the things we do.

To be sure there is a profound connection between our being and our doing. But a person who loses their ability to do does not therefore cease to be.

A quadriplegic has the same inherent value, dignity, and worth as someone with functioning arms and limbs. Both share equally the image of God our Creator.

We are human beings, not human doings.

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The profound hope of the gospel as applied to individuals is that we have been made new through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

By the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit we are one with Jesusand therefore share his identity and his standing even as he shared in our very humanity.

Our union with Jesus is the reason we are God’s children, the reason we are righteous, holy, royal priests, empowered, free, restored, new.

By virtue of our oneness with Jesus we have a new identity.

And who we are in Jesus shapes what we do.

We need not create an identity based on what we do. We need not stay locked inside the prison of our self-expectations. And we need not recapture the glory days of a partially remembered past.

We already are the beloved children of God.

Fully loved. Free to love.

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I love the way the theologian Michael Horton puts it in a quotation that changed my life twenty years ago. He writes,

What God began he will finish (Phil. 1:6). In Christ we are already holy, righteous, sanctified, reconciled (1 Cor. 1:30). Now we are called to live what we are, not to become what we are not yet.

—Christ the Lord, pg. 56

This is the everyday promise of the gospel.

The person and work of Jesus has liberated you
from the onerous obligation to be who you were
so that you may become what you already are.

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​Last week I invited you to ask yourself a penetrating question:

Why did God create a world with you in it instead of one without you in it?

God must have his reasons.

And it’s our lifelong opportunity to discover what those reasons are.

So how do we start this discovery process?

I call the tool I’m presenting here a Raison d’Être. That’s a French phrase describing the ultimate purpose for which something or someone exists. It’s a guided journaling exercise that invites self-reflection on fundamental questions about my life.

But it’s not a one-and-done. I refer to and edit mine regularly as part of my weekly review. (More on that in a future post.)

The Raison d’Être includes a preamble and three sections.

Each part is designed for you to put in your own words why God created a world with you in it.

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Exercise: Preamble

Let me encourage you right now to stop, get out a journal or open a blank Google doc, and take a deep breath.

Remind yourself of God’s loving presence right where you are.

Invite him into this time of self-reflection, and thank him for inviting you into his presence through your union with Jesus.

Once you’re ready in mind, heart, and body …

Write the word Preamble

This is the shortest part of the Raison d’Être.

In this section write down one or two favorite sentence prayers.

Sometimes called centering prayers, these are single sentences taken from Scripture, song, or elsewhere, designed to correspond with a deep inhale and exhale and restore a prayerful mindset.

Perhaps the most familiar sentence prayer is this:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

As you pray the first half breathe in, then exhale through the second half.

I use sentence prayers as the Preamble of my Raison d’Être in order to keep this crucial time of self-reflection consciously in an attitude of prayer.

The goal is not self-actualization; it is identifying who God has made me to be and aligning what I do with his call on my life.

Here are a few more of my favorite sentence prayers:

• The Lord is the One shepherding me, I lack nothing.
• Jesus loves me, Jesus likes me.
• You are enough, so I am enough.
• I am Matthew Choe Hoskinson, beloved child of God.

Now write down a few sentence prayers of your own.

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That’s a great start! Next week I’ll guide you through the five parts of Section 1.

I suggest blocking out 20–30 minutes for my next email. What I write won’t take long to read, but you’ll need that time to reflect on the questions I propose.

In the meantime keep thinking about sentence prayers you want to add to your list. They’re a tremendous resource to focus your attention on Jesus when things go off the rails.

Until next week, peace.

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Let’s Discuss!

What are your favorite sentence prayers?

Drop a comment below to share what “fire extinguisher prayers” reorient you to God’s presence. I’d love to hear from you!