With half his lips committed to clenching a corncob pipe, the remainder of Popeye’s mouth famously sang, “I’m strong to the finish ’cause I eats me spinach. I yam what I yam. I am what I am, and that’s all that I am.” (You may have even read that in his distinctively raspy voice.) Dating back to 1929, Popeye was an unrefined, uneducated sailor that was quick to find a fight. He was consistently kind to a child, Sweet Pea, and to his favorite girl, Olive Oyl, but he didn’t fit in with the rest of society. It’s in light of his largely friendless existence that he announced, “I yam what I yam.”
There are a number of reasons that Popeye doesn’t make the ideal role model for Christians, but there is something to the idea of being content in who you are, regardless of how that squares with the world’s expectations. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to remind them that their identity was tied to the gospel. He told them about the sacrifice that Jesus made on their behalf and, as a result, they should “hold fast” to that when the world around them is casting judgment. He then used himself as an example.
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1 Cor. 15:9–11)
At the time that Paul wrote this letter he was unquestionably held in high regard by the church. Everyone knew was personally called by Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles, so they had him to thank for delivering the gospel to them. However, he reminded his readers that prior to being saved, he was personally responsible for brutalizing the first Christians. He pointed out that he was the last person that had any right to being redeemed, yet he was able to say of his current condition, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.”
Do you find yourself discouraged about who you are? Do fret about what others think of you? Are you frustrated with your personal appearance, your past failures or a general lack of progress in your spiritual life? Stop it! You have no right to think that way. To be clear, if there is unconfessed sin in your life that is causing legitimate guilt then it must be dealt with. It cannot be glossed over. However, if your discontent is based on past regrets, then you must change your thinking immediately. Who you are now is the person that God has led you to be. “I wish” and “if only” is not allowed. You are not to just tolerate who you have become. You need to embrace it. You are uniquely positioned to minister to others precisely because of your past. Who you are now is not in spite of God’s grace, but because of it. Instead of asking “why,” ask yourself if you can affirm that the grace that has made you who you are is “not in vain.” “Why” questions focus on the past, but a “not in vain” evaluation is based on the present.
When you embrace the biblical view of “I am what I am,” then you are free to serve God more effectively. You are no longer weighed down with past regret or current dissatisfaction. With even more confidence than Popeye you will be able to declare the words of Isaiah, “Here I am, send me!”
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)