Unshaken | Be the Man God Made You to Be: Your Identity in ChristSample

Day 1: You are Created in His Image

You are probably familiar with the concept of an “elevator pitch,” right? If not, let’s sum it up quickly: if you are approaching an interview and someone were to ask you right now, "Who are you?" or "What is your company about?" you need an elevator pitch to describe in the most effective and efficient way who you are, or what your company is about.

If your elevator pitch is too lengthy, it can be boring; if your response is too short, it may not answer the question fully.

If we were to ask you now, "Who are you?" what would you respond?

The natural instinct, based on cultural and social norms, is to start with your name, age, career, and accomplishments, right? Let’s take a few minutes today to think and study what your elevator pitch is, but taking into account what the Word of God says about who you truly are.

First of all, you are created in the image of God. According to scripture, you and I are the product of a perfect design, created in the image and likeness of God the creator (Genesis 1:26-27). You and I are not the result of cosmic randomness or animal evolution. God created you in His image and likeness, and consequently, you carry His attributes such as creativity, intelligence, love, free will, and purpose.

Since God is relational, as described by the theological concept of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—you and I are created to live out this same nature in relationships. You were not created to live life alone. The enemy will deceive you to believe otherwise, but you need others in your life.

Before coming to salvation through faith in Jesus, your identity or image in God was severely affected by sin—sin you may have committed or sin done against you. But this perfect design of God’s creation for humanity was affected from the very beginning because God gave His human creation the attribute of free will.

If you have kids, you know pretty well how this goes. You give your kids options, limits, or rules for their own protection, and it is in their tendency to go against them or choose those that do not necessarily keep them safe even before they can tell right from wrong.

We could spend a lot of time in a theological debate about this, but the point is, that we learn by experience that when you give someone you love the freedom to act, his or her actions may ultimately hurt you or them in one way or another. Freedom comes with that risk and without it, it would just not be freedom.

You are God’s workmanship, created in His image for a greater purpose, created to live in a relationship with your Father God and with your fellow human beings. Because of the impact of sin in your life and in this world, this identity was flawed and corrupted, but through Jesus and your faith in His redemptive work: You were restored. You are who God says you are.

Your identity with God the Father was restored to accomplish the perfect purpose that He has for your life.