A Hidden Treasure
An Undiscovered Life
There is a sobering reality that is difficult to face: we often spend a lifetime crafting someone we are not, instead of discovering who we truly are. Many of us move through our days in a kind of sleepwalking state—going through the motions as though we’ve boarded a train without knowing its destination, carried along by forces beyond us.
The “self” we present has been shaped not only by our own choices and opinions but also by the countless influences of people, culture, and circumstance. Whether we are successful or insecure, outgoing or withdrawn, confident or uncertain—much of what we call our identity has been molded, consciously or unconsciously, by our own hands and the world around us.
And yet, from time to time, we experience moments of awakening. In a sudden flash, truth flickers like a light being switched on. For a brief instant, we see clearly: life, death, and our present condition confront us. But just as quickly, the light fades, and we drift back into the slumber of ordinary existence.
“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). From the beginning, this was God’s design—that He would shape us, guide us, and form us into the people He created us to be. Our true selves were never meant to be discovered apart from Him. Just as He is the Potter and we the clay, so also Jesus reminds us that He is the true vine and we are the branches, and the Father is the vinedresser who prunes us so that we might bear fruit for His glory (John 15:1–2).
Here is the harsh truth we must all confront: have we truly lived as the person we were meant to be, or as a version of ourselves we invented? The thought that we may have spent most of our lives wearing a façade—good or bad—can be daunting. To admit this is to acknowledge that, in many ways, we have lived a lie, an undiscovered life, presenting a self that was never truly us.
And then comes the sobering reality: one day we will leave this earth and stand before God, only to realize that the life He had planned for us was exchanged for the one we fashioned ourselves. We will see how we tried to act as potters of our own existence—playing both God and Father—molding a flawed, fleshly creation. And there, before the Creator, our counterfeit self will stand beside the true image, the life God had intended all along. To have spent ninety-five percent of our years living as someone we were never meant to be is a frightening thought.
Yet there is hope. We can still discover the life God created us for, but it requires surrender. We must lay down our own needs, desires, and attempts to control the shaping of our lives. Scripture reminds us: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Our true identity is hidden in Christ, but finding it requires death—not once, but daily. Each day we are called to die to self, releasing the will to construct our own lives, and placing ourselves in the hands of the Potter.
The more we die to ourselves, the more Christ lives in us. The more Christ lives in us, the more we discover our true identity, the more we understand love and truth, the more we become like Him. As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This is how we gain everything—by entrusting our lives to the Potter.
For if we cling to our own hands, we may reach Heaven, but only after living a life of our own making, a life shaped by the world instead of God.
So we must ask: whose life will we choose to live—our own, or the one our loving God designed and longs for us to embrace?
