If you didn’t get a chance to read Part 1, click here for reference:
There’s more depth to the concept of identity than what we were able to cover in the last post. Identity is powerful for good or for bad. You will walk in fulfillment of your Godly calling and who God says you are, or in dysfunction, your identity not based in truth. But deeper than that-it’s the meaning we attach to the identity isn’t it? Is the meaning I attach to the identity I behold true, accurate, real? As the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, but (at the end of the day), it’s still a pig. Just like you can’t change the truth of who God made you. Parts is parts. Hormones is hormones. When we start messing with this truth, and scientific reality we invite a whole lot of pain to our world….but that’s a tangent I will let lie.
When I was younger I identified as ‘Christian’ – the meaning I attached to it (as do many others) however is keeping a bunch of rules and going to church on Sunday, living the rest of the week as if I hadn’t ever heard the gospel, of Jesus or have any concept of grace. As a young believer, I hadn’t let or considered that the meaning of that identity should shape other aspects of my life, my whole life. I know early on, I simply didn’t get it. Still, many years into identifying as a ‘Christian’, I can still forget who I am, a sinner-saved by grace. If I, identify as a Christian but don’t attach the true meaning to that identity, letting it change every aspect of my life, from what I think to what I do, and if I instead live as a Pharisee (the ultra-religious guys in Jesus’s day, running around in their spiffy robes-looking all polished up on the outside, legalists, having hearts and minds that didn’t make the love-grace connection) that kind of changes the meaning of what it looks to be a Christian from an observer’s perspective doesn’t it? Jesus didn’t mince words. He called the Pharisee’s white washed tombs. Ouch! Clean looking externally, while dead internally. If on the other hand, the meaning I attach to identifying as a Christian is to be a Christ-follower, striving to think and act as He tells us to, (following Him so closely that I am ‘covered in His dust)-then more and more every aspect of my life should resemble Him/His way. I will give and serve sacrificially because that is what He did. I would be interruptible-He was a guy on the move, on the go, doing, teaching, serving, healing, ministering; yet, if there was something important that came up, He would change direction and serve, heal, and willingly be interrupted. At the same time-He had loving boundaries-and wasn’t a ‘yes-man’ to every ask, He was about His Father’s work, on mission. My speech will be kind and gentle, truth and grace. As His Word tells us, I will be more concerned about my own sin than someone else’s. I will be quick to forgive and slow to anger, not keeping a record of wrongs. I will meditate on that which is true, lovely, pure, right, of good report, that which is praiseworthy and not dwell on negative things. I will think more highly of others than of myself. I will be salt (creating in others a thirst for Him) and light. I will seek to give Him glory instead of seeking my own, putting the spotlight on Him instead of me. I will let my gentleness be evident to all.
Here is the thing though. I suffer, we all suffer from identity amnesia. I don’t always wake up in the morning focusing on the truth of who I am in Christ. I forget I am His child when I am in traffic and someone cuts me off, I’ve had a little road rage in my heart. I can fall into judging another. In my state of amnesia, I can chew the sock of unforgiveness, letting bitterness grow within. I can be impatient, focused on my desires, needs and list of things I want to get done for the day, failing to be interruptable, serving impromptu someone else in need. My speech can be crass. I be prideful, thinking I am better than I am. I can be a glory seeker, wanting praise instead of putting the spotlight on Christ and remembering that I have nothing to boast about but Christ-there isn’t one ability or talent I have that didn’t come from Him. Yes….all those things and more when I suffer identity amnesia.
When I do spend time in the morning remembering who I am in Christ, I get washed from the inside. I am more aware as I go through my days of Who I belong to and how I should think and act as a result. My identity, when attached to the truth in the bible of who He says I am and what I should look like moves me in a different direction than my natural sinful self would go. I have different behavior when I am rooted and grounded, attaching His truth to the identity of who I really am, a child of God, dearly loved, a recipient of unearned grace and undeserved mercy, created in His image, to do good and bring Him glory. Hopefully I remember the identity of all those around me as well. Those who I encounter everyday are also made by God, in His image, loved by Him, even if they yet don’t know Him. He came to save not only me, but all of them too, even those who commit an offense against me. I should live with that identity, top of mind moment by moment as I navigate my day, letting it guide my heart and action, loving others as He does.
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