It’s a question for the ages, right? But for Christ followers, it is much more than an existential exploration. It is the heart and soul of our walk. It’s our foundation. And it’s our North Star.
We know our identity is in Christ, but the question is the depth of that belief and how we live it out.
I address that question by trying to reduce the gap between what I know to be true about my identity in Christ, and the voice whispering: “Obviously that’s not you. If it was really true, you wouldn’t do what you do or think what you think.”
That’s a lie!
Our journey to grow ever closer to God is never complete, but our identity in Christ is!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Think of it like this:
- God gives us grace—we give him our faith.
- God gives us wisdom–we give him our application.
- God gives us power–we give him our ministry.
I know, easier said than done. But please stick with me.
The secret to living the “new creation life” is to begin renewing our minds to “new creation realities.”
Information will not set us free, but this revelation will—our identity in Christ. So we must bridge the gulf between truth and revelation. Only the truth that we hear, believe, and apply will release our identity in Christ and set us free.
APPLYING STARBUCKS?
I pulled up to Starbucks recently–my office away from the office—and there was only one parking space open. The space was narrow because the car next to it was over the line. Backing up and surveying the situation revealed that the problem actually started with a car four spaces away that was parked askew. Every car after the initial breach followed the pattern and perpetuated the misalignment.
The Christian life is a little like that. It’s easy to use the world’s measure of our identity and ignore the heavenly version. Hiding imperfections and masking guilt shows we haven’t fully embraced God’s forgiveness and yielded control to him. We have given in to the world’s deception. The extraordinary effort we put into showing our polished outer images is compensatory for feelings of guilt.
Since we don’t think we are worthy in Christ’s eyes, we cover it up by being “nice” and socially acceptable. When playing this role, the last thing we think about is being broken bread without pretension in front of Christ.
So where does all of this leave us? With the imperative to fully embrace and live out our identity in Christ. To do that, “start with the end” by remembering that we are:
- A child of God. John 1:12
- Predestined for adoption by Jesus. Ephesians 1:5
- Accepted by Christ. Romans 15:7
- Brought to fullness. Colossians 2:10
- United with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 6:17
- No longer a slave to sin. Romans 6:6
- Set apart. Jeremiah 1:5
- Baptized into Christ. Galatians 3:27
- Raised with Christ. Colossians 3:1
