What we believe about ourselves and what we think others believe about us will have a major affect on our posture. If I walk into a room where I am unsure if I fit in and I’m unsure what people think of me I will probably attempt to enter without attracting attention to myself. That way I can assess the situation from the safety of not being noticed and decide on a course of action.
If I walk into another room where I am comfortable and I know the people there love and respect me, then I walk in confidently, able to be myself. Two very different postures. Some of us, due to the way we think about ourselves, walk into every new situation feeling a bit like the first scenario while others walk into every situation convinced that everyone there will love them and has been waiting their whole life to meet them. It all comes down to how we view ourselves.
Our spiritual posture is identically affected by what we believe about ourselves and the environment we are in. If I believe that I am a lowly sinner who just might get lucky enough to qualify for heaven one day I will feel intimidated and inferior around other Christians who “seem to have it all together” and will not expect to have any positive impact on those who don’t know Jesus yet. Alternatively, if I’m convinced that I was an absolutely hopeless sinner who God saved by grace, poured his love into, adopted me into his family and has now seated me with Christ in the heavenly realms and given me every spiritual blessing, I can comfortably rub shoulders with anyone, Jesus follower or not, secure to be myself, not having to prove anything but knowing I have the answer to everything.
Jesus began his ministry with his Fathers ringing endorsement “You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased” so he didn’t need the approval or affection of others to define who he was. He spent regular time alone (Lk 5:16) in intimate communication with his Father, so he remained secure in who he was and he completed his ministry with a demonstration of the full extent of his love (Jn 13) because he knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. (v3) ie his identity remained secure.
All through his ministry, his intimacy with Father determined his identity, which determined his posture. We are no different. The degree to which we are intimate with Father and receive His love will correlate with how secure we are in our God given identity and this will be reflected in our posture in every situation.
