Identity

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf:  Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Hello friends.  I hope everyone is doing well.  I want us today to think about our identities. Identity is defined as who someone is; the qualities, beliefs, etc. that make a particular person who they are.   Where do we get our identities?  What things have you allowed to form your identity?  Have you allowed what others think of you shape your identity?  Have you based your identity on your job?  Maybe you have based your identity on the world’s standards.  I encourage you today to base your identity on who God says you are.  I pray you will come to see yourself as God sees you. 

Friend, you need to understand deep in your soul that you were never a mistake.  God created you in His image and He has a purpose and plan for you.  Psalm 139:13 – For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  We have been chosen by God and have a responsibility to be His representatives to a lost world.  Our value comes from being a child of God, not from our jobs, successes, wealth, and knowledge.  When we base our value on other things, our lives are often filled with futility and frustration.  A sense of continual discontentment consumes us.  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light – 1 Peter 2:9. 

Our identity and self-worth is established in the fact that our Savior and LORD loves us and calls us His children. 1 John 3:1 – How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior and LORD, we are reborn spiritually.  We receive new life from God.  This spiritual birth changes us from the inside out.  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God – 1 John 1:12-13. 

If you have accepted Jesus as Savior and LORD, your citizenship is in Heaven.  Earth is not your home.  A wonderful home in Heaven awaits you after your journey on this earth is done.  Read Revelation 21 and 22 and get a glimpse of your Heavenly home.  If you ever feel like you just don’t belong on this earth, it is because your true home awaits you in Heaven.  But our citizenship is in Heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body – Philippians 3:20-21

Friends, our bodies belong to Christ.  We were “bought at a price” – Jesus’ death on the cross.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life – John 3:16.   This act of love is incomprehensible.  God loves us more than we can ever truly understand.  He gave His Son for you.  You are of great value.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

I encourage you to base your identity on who God says you are.  Our self-worth comes from who we are in Christ Jesus, not on what we accomplish. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that You will help us to believe we are who You say we are.  Father we are Your children, fearfully and wonderfully made.  Help us to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to You.  I pray that as we live our lives, others in the world will know that we belong to You.  Thank You Jesus for saving my soul.  In Jesus Precious Name I Pray…..Amen.