Do you really know who you are? Are you a child? Are you a spouse? Are you a parent? Are you…insert job title? Are you a good person? Are you a bad person? Just who are you? Am I my racial, sexual or ethnic identity? I would then say the most important question for us is, who am I in God’s eyes? Does God see everyone the same?
In the series of questions above the answer may be that you are most of them. Like me, I am a child. I was a spouse but am now a widower. I am not a parent. I am (or have been,) a package wrapper, a children’s shoe salesman, a supervisor, a manager, a store owner, a City Council Member, a Mayor Pro Tem, a Mayor, a Campaign Manager, a Deputy Secretary of State, a Pastor Church Outreach Director, a caregiver, an author, and a blogger. The list is extensive, and I may have missed quite a few more! I do believe however that all these things helped to shape me into the man I am today. But in all truth and reality none of those things truly makes me who I am. You see my real identity is that I am a child of the living God. It is God who makes me who I am. I would like to explore with you just who I am and who you can be in Jesus.
- I am a Child of God, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” Galatians 3:25-26 (ESV)
- I am blessed, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
- I am His heir, “and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:17 (ESV)
- I am God’s ambassador and the Righteousness of God, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (ESV)
- I am a new creation, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
- I am a saint, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” 1 Corinthians 1:2 (ESV)
- Christ lives in me. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
This is just seven of the fifty identities that I now have because I am a believer in my Lord and Savior and have been born again into a new identity my old identity is gone. I am no longer a lost sheep, a sinner, and a person condemned to the eternal lake of fire. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV) This is what gives me a true and enduring hope. A hope that is “built on nothing else then Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, Edward Mote, Public Domain
You too can become all the above, all you need to do is accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. If you are not already done this, please do not wait any longer. See how to know Jesus.
So, join me in realizing a new identity that only God can give. Ask God because He will always give us a new identity when we ask for it and that gives us hope. God is the only One who can give us an identity that leads to hope. One day, He will make all things right, and when you search to receive hope for yourself, then you will also give hope to others by living in God’s wisdom. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because wisdom shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in choosing Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google.
