Devotionals for the Heart: A Challenge to Remember Who You Are in Christ

Whose Are You?
A devotional by Kristy Horine

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” –1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

Momma tells the story of how I got my name from time to time.

“I always liked the name Kristine and we knew Robinson was a long last name. So one night when I was sound asleep, your Dad woke me up and said, “Eva! Eva Kristine Robinson!”

“We both liked it, so that’s what we named you,” Momma says.

Eva Kristine.

It just sounds fine, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s fine because I’ve lived with it for so long that I’m resigned to the name. Perhaps it’s fine because I was named after one of the grandest women I knew growing up: Eva Cundiff Melvin. She was my great-grandmother on Daddy’s Momma’s side. All the grandkids and the great-grandkids called her Ebie. My grandfather Robinson called her Lady Eve.

To me, she was the gourmet chef of burgers cooked to perfection in an iron skillet. She was the dispenser of Fig Newtons that were too expensive for our family to buy. She was the generous giver of “just thinking of you” greeting cards with silver wrapped sticks of Wrigley’s gum tucked inside. She knew all the right forks to use and in what order. She drank her tea in delicate china cups with matching saucers.

And I – the first girl in a long line of grandsons and great-grandsons – had her name. I carried that name everywhere I went. I carried it to family reunions and country church suppers. I carried it to Momma’s homemaker meetings and the occasional trip to the grocery store. I carried it to the garden when I pulled weeds or picked green beans. And, I carried it through the fields I tromped across in search of a lost halter or a stray bunny that might need a home.

I carried it to school with me when I was old enough to go. It was there that I learned how a little girl’s fingers could tremble.

It was a five-mile bus ride from our family farm to the local elementary school. Our bus had to cross two rickety bridges to get to its final destination. When the teachers called roll, they used our full names. When I heard my Ebie’s name, I shot my hand straight as an arrow toward the ceiling. The boys noticed it, too. On the way back home, they sat in the back of the bus, bouncing on the brown plastic seats to the rhythm of the bumps across each rickety bridge. They chanted as they bounced.

“Eva! Eva! Igor! Eva! Eva! Igor!”

Igor? That hunched assistant in Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory?

My face burned with shame. The name of that beautiful woman united in a phrase with a wretched, ugly being? The boys hurled the insults at me and I caught every single one of them. I lost sight of the wonderful woman and focused on the twisted ugliness. I carried those barbs for a long time.

Today, over forty years later, I sometimes struggle just like I did when I was a child. I sometimes forget the reminder that I am adopted through faith into the family of God, because I have repented, believed, and do trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
– Romans 8:14-17 (NKJV)

God calls me “daughter”. I call Him “Father”. I have Jesus Christ in my heart. I live by the witness of the Spirit. How, then, can I have this roaring lion in my head? Why do I feel the hot breath of that mangy beast on my neck?

It’s because life on this earth is very much like riding the bus. The bully bouncing on the seat doesn’t want to simply hurt my feelings, he seeks to destroy me and all my adopted sisters and brothers in Christ.

Here is where the Good Father comes in with 1 Peter 5:8 to help us on this ride:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” –1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

In the Greek, sober means to be calm and collected in spirit. Likewise, the Greek word vigilant means to watch, be cautious, take careful heed. One day, this bus ride of life will stop and we will get off to go to our eternal home.

My Prayer: Abba Father, we still have a ways yet to travel through this life. I pray that for the duration of the ride, You will help us remain sober and vigilant. When the roaring lion makes us forget who and whose we are, give us courage to replace our fear and remind us of the assurance of adoption in Christ Jesus. Impress on our hearts we are truly children of the King!

~*~

Author Bio:

Kristy Horine is a Kentucky writer, freelance journalist by trade and creative by God’s grace.

She writes a little bit of everything including poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. Her professional and creative work has been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies in Kentucky and beyond.

Kristy founded 3rd Letter Christian Writers in Lexington, Kentucky in 2015. Read more of her work at www.kristyhorine.com.