After World War Two, fifty men came out of a camp in Indochina with amnesia. They didn’t know who they were. They simply didn’t remember, and there were no records.

For those who were brought back to Paris, someone had the idea to advertise in the newspapers. The idea was to tell the public about the situation, and then promote a special evening at the opera house. The organizers would introduce the men one by one, and hopefully people in the crowd could identify them.

When the night came, one man walked out on stage and called out, “Does anybody out there know who I am?”

That’s a question many people are asking these days, perhaps if only to themselves. “Does anybody out there know who I am?” Quite often, perhaps because we live in confusing times, some people don’t know what makes them unique, valuable, or important.

I’m here to tell you that if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a child of God. First and foremost. That’s who you are. And as the dominant facet of your identity, it is more important than any other title related to your family, ethnicity, sex, or language.

It also eclipses those secret titles and lies that you say to yourself, or that other people have said about you: Dumb, Ugly, Weird, Poor, Unworthy, Insignificant, Lost, A fake.

Back at the opera house a man called out, “Does anybody out there know who I am?” If you ask that question about yourself, don’t believe anything that undermines the beauty, truth and power of who you actually are. In Romans 8:14 Paul says that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

If you are a Christian, THAT’S who you are.

You have royal blood. Live with humble confidence and bold faithfulness, knowing that this is true.

By Matthew Ruttan

• “Up!” is published 5 days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) and returns on March  27th.
• Click here to learn about Palm Sunday at Westminster in Barrie.