Each individual – man, woman, child, teenager – has an identity. What’s yours?
You could be a contractual worker, a CEO, a specialist, a high school jock, or a homecoming queen. Or, on the other hand, your identity may be tied to your marital status – married, single, separated, or widowed. Maybe you are known as a philanderer, a liar, a hard worker, or perhaps you’re known as a kind and responsible individual.
All individuals are known by something that, somehow or another, identifies who they are.
There Are No Identity Issues in God’s Plan for You
God’s Word tells us that we can take on another identity and renew our character when we are constrained by our adoration for God through Jesus Christ. In other words, when our spiritual eyes are opened and we finally see how much God loves us, we can’t help but respond to His love and give our hearts and lives to Christ in faith.
Here’s some great news. Paul, who wrote the words in 2 Corinthians 5:17, had been a strict, fear-based oppressor. He was en-route to capture, aggrieve, and slaughter Christians when he encountered the Risen Christ. He apologized – which implies he changed what he thought about Jesus – and turned into a committed follower of Christ. From a strict fear-based oppressor to a committed disciple of Jesus Christ.
How’s that for a total change in personality and identity? If that can happen to Paul, I promise it can happen to anyone reading this devotion.
Your Identity Is Who God Says You Are
Trusting Christ means believing with our minds what the Bible tells us about who Jesus is and who we are. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We are new creatures in Christ. When we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, all past identity issues are erased and we allow the mind of Christ to reign in us (Philippians 2:5).
Know that believing with our minds alone doesn’t make us Christians. It is an essential part, but true belief is also entrusting and submitting our character and identity to Christ completely.
Follow Him. It’s a decision of the heart and of the mind that leads to our true identity.
So, What’s The Play Call?
- Have you made that decision – to conform your personality, identity, and character to the will of God?
- Have you taken on another way of life or a new identity as a believer of Jesus?
- Will you trust that God will establish your identity when you are having issues?
God vows to make us new creatures, with new identities that last forever, when we surrender to Him.
