Around The World: Making A Global Impact OverseasSýnishorn

Embracing Our Identity in Christ

Who we are is more important than what we do, or even where we live.  We take ourselves with us wherever we go. 

When we move overseas, the insides of our souls land on the other side of the world like a beached whale, in plain view for all to see. We will squirm to wiggle back into the familiar ocean of normalcy to hide our insecurity, our unhealed wounds, or our character deficiencies. But no. They will sit out there in plain view, a spectacle, until we deal with them. 

Whatever is lurking in the dark corners of our souls—our weaknesses, our struggles, our secret sins—will come out for everyone to see. It will unearth the cracks in our character, the rough edges of our personality, and the trauma that never healed. While we’ll never be perfect—or perfectly ready—to go, we can pursue spiritual and emotional wholeness ahead of time. This will decrease the dredge of spiritual and emotional messiness that surfaces in us when we land. Knowing how to process through this with God in a place that is familiar to us, with people who know us, will equip us to do it well when everything and everyone around us is foreign. . . . 

For example, Satan looks for weaknesses and previous sins to shame us and make us feel unworthy. He uses the lies we believe about ourselves or about God, and he exploits them. On the field, he will try the same lies and the same methods to destroy us as he did when we lived in our home country. 

It’s important to know who you are, and whose you are. 

In the Bible, Jeshua, a would-be high priest chosen for a special purpose, didn’t feel special or purposeful. In a vision, Jeshua was transported to heaven for a moment, but he was dressed in filthy clothing. Poor Jeshua, his head down, eyes lowered, cowered before the courts of heaven as Satan made accusations against Jeshua. 

But the Lord rejected Satan’s accusations. An angel instructed others standing there to take Jeshua’s filthy clothes and dress him in clean ones. He spoke directly to Jeshua, telling him he had taken away his sin and shame and given him fine new clothes. 

Imagine Jeshua walking around in his fine new clothes. But if he still feels like he’s wearing his dirty clothes, he will certainly not act like a chosen emissary of the King. He needs to embrace the new identity that comes with his new clothes. 

We, too, are dressed in fine new clothes. We are dressed in the righteousness of Christ, adopted into God’s family, heir to eternity. Have we embraced the truths about ourselves that come with these fine, new clothes? 

Before we go overseas, let’s get freedom from addiction, from past sins, and from lies that keep us trapped. Then we can go and be whole—and wholly available—to those we’re sent to serve.