Last week, I talked about how a person who is sure of their identity in Christ never has to “prove” anything to anyone! The bigger question is: Are YOU sure of your identity in Christ? I’ve been grappling with that question for my entire Christian walk, but especially in the last 6 months or so. Identity is a BIG deal! There is a three-word question that most of us spend our lives trying to answer, even if we don’t realize it. That question is: Who are you? What comes to mind when you hear those three words? How do you answer that question? It’s a question that cuts to the core of identity. It reveals what you believe about yourself. It reveals what you value and where you find your significance. Some of us answer it with our job title. Some first questions we ask unfamiliar people are, “What do you do?” or, “Where do you work?” It is common to tie our identity to our work. But, as I found out the hard way, jobs change and companies dissolve! If your identity is in your work, a crisis may be coming soon! Some of us place our identity in our family roles, but what happens when those relationships change? I also found out what happens when death enters the picture and discovered relationships are not a stable place to put identity.
Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
So, What… for This Week?
So, where do you find your own identity? In successes, accomplishments, or maybe sinful patterns, or even our shame. “I’m an addict,” and “I’m a leader” are both identity statements. When we let our successes or our sins define us, it can become more difficult to embrace the identity God has for us. Our identity is not because of anything we have done or will do (good or bad), but everything that Christ has done, which means that we can rely entirely on Him despite our shortcomings and failures!