My Identity in Christ

We've barely scratched the surface of God's identity. He is both El-Shaddai (God Almighty) and Emmanuel (God with us). What does God's identity teach us about our own? When the Israelites left Egypt after 430 years of slavery, God was on a mission to teach them about their true identity and new way of life as a free people. While they no longer held the title of ‘slave,’ many of them struggled to live out their newfound freedom from the inside out.

Isn't this true of us too? We may know that "in Jesus, we are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17) The problem is that we don't always live like it. We may have the head-knowledge of it, but our hearts easily forget. How often do we settle for life as the enslaved, not the freed? Just as God wanted to reclaim the Israelites' identities, so He wants to do for us. He does this by telling us who we are in relationship to who He is and what Jesus has done for us. Today, remind your heart that "you are no longer a slave, but [His child]; and since you are [His child], God has made you also an heir" (Galatians 4:7).

Let's understand that who Christ is in us is the true foundation of who we are. In Him, we are fully known, loved, and made new. What gaps in your identity are you trying to understand? How does Jesus satisfy the questions of who you are? Remember today that because He is our mighty deliverer, we "have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:18). We are no longer identified with our attachment to sin or disobedience against God, rather to His relationship with us. Because He is with us, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

Pray: Give thanks to God for truly setting you free (Galatians 5:1) and that He’s adopted you into His family (Romans 8:15-17). Ask the Holy Spirit to empower and embolden you to live as a new creation. Ask God to help you understand who He made you to be in light of all that He is and all that He's done for you.