Our Identity in Christ

Lately I have been thinking about the whole concept of identity.  We live in an age where our technological advancements have led to the relatively new crime of identity theft.  Identity theft is an insidious act that anyone who has ever experienced it can only describe it as a nightmare.  To think that another person can use your name, your social security number and your credit card for any purpose their heart desires is quite frankly chilling.

However, there is another type of identity theft that I find that those who claim to follow Christ fall victim to.  It is the theft of one’s identity in Christ.  What I mean is this.  We have a tendency to allow ourselves to be characterized and identified by cultural, societal and familial expectations and we sometimes fail to realize that in Christ we are “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

For example, I am a pastor.  I have been serving in pastoral ministry for 25 years.  As a pastor, I study the Word of God, prepare sermons and Bible studies, teach small groups, speak at the nursing home, visit the sick, counsel people, build relationships with people, and seek to cast vision and direction for our church so that we can be effective in reaching our community for Christ.  I enjoy what God has called me to do and I throw myself into it.  But I am also a realist.  There will come a day when I will not have the physical energy and possibly not even the mental capacity to do all that I do now.  I can honestly say that I am okay with that reality, because my identity is not bound up in my accomplishments as a pastor.  More than being a pastor, I am a child of God and that is my true spiritual identity.

When I allow my culture, or my colleagues, or my family to determine my identity then in essence I am making myself a victim to spiritual identity theft.  Dr. Kenneth Boa writes the following in his book Conformed to His Image:  "Our culture tells us that our worth is determined by our accomplishments and encourages us to pursue significance and meaning through the things we do.  Scripture tells us our worth is determined by what Christ was willing to do for us and that in him we have an unlimited source of meaning and purpose (p. 144)."

When you and I by faith trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord to forgive us of our sins, we are made part of God’s family (Romans 8:15-16; Ephesians 1:5) and are God’s children.  Our identity is neither in what we can accomplish and nor in who or what we were in the past.  Our identity is in Jesus Christ.  Knowing that who I am is determined by Christ can give me the strength and courage to face the stuff life throws at me with a sense of peace and resolve.  As a follower of Christ, I am a child of the King of Kings and nothing anyone does, says or thinks can change that fact.  No one can steal my spiritual identity.