People’s problems in life have to do with a lack of understanding of who they are, where they came from and where they are going.

Jesus had this all worked out.

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’" (John 8:12).

"Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going’" (John 8:14).

First, where did we come from?

If we are believers we came from two origins.

1. From the lineage of Adam, in our fallen, sinful life.

2. From the lineage of Jesus, in our new, resurrected life.

We changed our origin when we were born again, by the impregnation of the Word of God in our hearts. Hebrews 9:14 says that the Holy Spirit is the "eternal Spirit." Therefore our origin change transcended time. We were put "in Christ," and there we live and move and have our being.

Second, who are we?

We are not the same old fallen creatures who God ran through a "people wash." No, we were crucified with Christ, we went into Hell with Christ, and we were resurrected with Christ with the same new species of life He introduced at the resurrection. He was the first-born of this new species, we are the "later-born of this new species."

In the same way you were in your mother and father and you inherited their history, you were in Christ when He was crucified, buried and resurrected! Praise God!

Third, where are we going?

We know that ultimately we are going to be with the Lord for eternity. We know that He already tasted death for everyone, so we need not worry about that.

But we need to know where we are going until we depart this earth. That is not always easy to understand and easy to answer. I struggle with this issue from time to time.

My answer to this issue is to put it into the hands of The Lord, and concentrate on who I am and where I came from. Then I have to continually allow the Holy Spirit to help me get rid of the remnant of the old flesh nature in me, so the I allow Jesus to live His life through me. The rest works itself out.

Normally it works out by encountering opportunities to tell others who they could be, where they could come from, and where they could go if they just believed in the Words of Jesus.

Larry Chkoreff - October, 2000