Stop Trying—Receive Your Real IdentitySýnishorn

Day 6—Gospel Identity

When Jesus called Peter, His words were, “Follow me and I will make you…” From the very first, Jesus’ idea was to unmake and remake Peter. But that didn’t sink in until after Jesus’ resurrection. 

Peter’s failure left him free-falling with loss, not really sure who he was. Jesus’ death destroyed all of Peter’s dreams, so after the resurrection, Peter resorted back to his old self—fisherman in Galilee. It’s what he knew. It’s where he came from.

For this reason, the story in John 21 is a powerful picture of Jesus reconstructing Peter after His loss. Jesus came to Peter after a long, fishless night and invited Him to an early morning fire-side chat. The intimacy and tenderness of the moment is striking. The grace of Jesus reaching into Peter’s psyche, reigniting his love, and reviving His original call (feed my lambs) is a powerful picture. 

Jesus redeemed Peter and sent Him into a new life. Peter truly became a “different person”—not as a result of his hard work, but as a result of the compelling love of his resurrected Savior. This new Peter is similar to the new you—found only in the unconditional, redeeming love of the gospel of Jesus. 

This is the work of grace that Jesus does in all of us. Perhaps the circumstances of your personal deconstruction and reconstruction (losing and finding) are different, but the heart of love is the same. A gospel identity is deeply transformational because it isn’t based on your work but Jesus’ work. You don’t achieve it, you receive it. You can’t earn it because it was already paid for on the cross. 

A gospel identity is durable because no circumstance in life can ever remove you from God’s love, and if God is for you then it really doesn’t matter who may be against you.