Who Am I?Намуна

Day 1: Understanding Identity in Christ

If you’ve been around any length of time, you’ll have heard the phrase ‘I think, therefore I am’. Pronounced by Philosopher Descartes in 1637, we’ve had almost 400 years of understanding that our identity is rooted in our thoughts.

But can I tell you something fantastic? Long before Descartes, the Bible has been telling followers of Christ that they were known, valued, and loved by a creator, God. You were in His thoughts before you had a single thought of your own. You are, because He first thought of you.

You may doubt yourself, falling prey to society’s lies that you are what you do, what you earn, the children you raise. Even the lie that you are what you feel. Whatever we lean on for identity will affect our actions, because how we live our lives flows out of who we understand ourselves to be. But when we understand that our identity is rooted in our Creator, it sets us on an unshakeable foundation from which to go about our lives.

You see, all around us, people rush out to buy the latest luxury goods emblazoned with the name of the designer. The name on something matters. They try to find their value in the name of the designer on their clothes and accessories not realising that they already carry the name of the ultimate Designer.

Ephesians 2:10 says that ‘we are God’s handiwork,’ but also goes on to say that we are ‘created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’

Because of who we are, we know what we are called to do. We can step out in purpose because the Bible clearly lays out for us the direction that we should go in.

Not only are we redeemed from the lies of the enemy through Jesus’ work on the cross, we’re now identified in Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians more about the commission – that we are Christ’s ambassadors. Through the work of Jesus, we are the living, breathing display of God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). When we are confident in our identity, we can show the world around us the goodness of God through who we are, not just what we do.

Questions:

1. Take a moment to think about yourself as God’s designer creation. Have you ever thought about yourself as that valuable? How does it make you feel?
2. What area do you find yourself leaning on for reassurance of identity? Have you been let down by those things?