Greetings, I’m Nelson Hawkins Jr. I am honored and privileged to be a part of the Aknowingspirit team. I’ve known our fearless leader for a couple years and I am proud to partner with her. So, who the heck am I?
Let me tell you about myself.
- Born and raised in New Orleans, LA.
- Moved to TX in 2006 for school.
- Did lots and lots of science and even got a fancy degree.
- Joined a church along the way.
- Ascended from sweeping after church to being a part of the Advisory Board.
- Served as Marketing Director.
- Served as technical advisor.
- Started my own ministry.
- Got a YouTube Channel and an Anchor podcast spot.
- I even tutor science, math, and standardized tests.
But I count it all as rubbish for knowing Jesus Christ.
Why?
It could be as simple as saying that knowing Christ is how I got here. While that would be true, I want to go just a little bit deeper.
Identity is the part of our belief system that gives us our self-worth.
We have to understand identity as a whole, our identity, and the shortfalls of our identity to begin to know what to focus on what to pray on before God. Essentially, our issues and pain come from shortfalls in our identity. But let’s break down the importance, shall we?
There are four elements to identity:
(1) Made in God’s Image in Likeness/Identifying with Christ: It all begins with Christ. His light is what permeates into our spirits, brings us salvation, and allows us to live the fullness of life. Therefore this is the part of identity that must come first, because all things come from this.
(2) Our God-given purpose: Our walk and our purpose come next, because this is what makes us unique amongst all people who follow Christ. This has three different elements to it: the general call, leadership, and the specific call. The general call is for us all, and it’s the five areas of our living: personal, family, career, church, and community. Colossians 3:1-4:6 (or any epistle really) breaks this down eloquently into each area, and all must be on point to cultivate our identity and relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Still, knowing Christ transcends this, because without Christ this cannot be developed.
(3) Our heritage: I’m a Hawkins. Our fearless leader is a Paul. Our family lineage matters. Otherwise, why would Matthew 1 take so much time to talk about the lineage that Jesus doesn’t biologically/spiritually come from, but rather culturally. Our families make us unique and set the stage for generational trends, that can only be broken through Christ.
(4) Our ethnicity/race: I’m black. Some of you may be white. Black, white, latino, asian, middle eastern, everybody’s ethnicity/race is a part of their identity. It’s just the bottom of the totem pole. The problem is that because it is easier to identify with the tangibility of things like race or heritage over anything else, a lot of the division is in the world and strife among the peoples. I still have confidence that Christ will reconcile all the things and bring it all back. What a mighty God we serve.
But yeah, I love the Lord and recognize just chillin’ with Him is best for business…it can bring more breadth than all the accolades in the world. It’s good to be here. I promise future snippets will not be this long. We’ll delve into identity more next time…to help it aid our discernment. Until then, I love each and every one of you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. God bless you, take care of yourselves, take care of one another, and have a great week, folks!
