I remember as a young boy in the sixties hearing a phrase that went something like this: “I need to go find myself.” I wanted to say, “Just look in the mirror; there you are.” What people were really meaning was that they didn’t know who they were, or rather, their identity.
Without identity, a person wanders this earth void of purpose or meaning. It is the very thing Satan tries to take from us. Worse, he tries to keep us from understanding our true identity in Jesus Christ as Christians. You see, you can be a child of God and yet be without purpose and impact. It is knowing who you are and whose you are that causes you to act.
In the beginning, God made man in His image. This has always been the plan of God. We were made in the image of God. This was our intended identity before sin. We were then given the responsibility of tending the Garden of Eden. We were given dominion over the earth. Function and purpose follow identity, and not the other way around; this is true order. So let us see what God says about our identity.
1. Identity gives you a foundation of worth and belonging:
I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am a member of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19)
I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
I am chosen and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12)
I am blameless (1 Corinthians 1:8)
I am set free (Romans 8:2; John 8:32)
I am safe (1 John 5:18)
I am healed (1 Peter 2:24)
2. Identity in the Kingdom of God is full of authority because of Whom you belong to and who He has made you to be:
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. (Ephesians 1:3)
I am protected (John 10:28)
I am victorious (1 John 5:4)
I am more than
a conqueror (Romans 8:37)
3. Identity gives you purpose:
I am God’s co-worker (2 Corinthians 6:1)
I am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
I am a dwelling for the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)
I am salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14)
A trick of Satan is to have us focus on our giftedness or purpose apart from our true identity. In this way, we will find ourselves working for acceptance and worth instead of being a son or daughter in the house of God. Your identity as a child of God does not change just because your gift to the body is not functioning, or you seem to be missing the purposes of God. God loves us apart from the gifts he gives us and the purposes for which He has called us to. I will never forget when God spoke to me on this very subject. He said, “Do not find your worth in anything, but in my Son. Not even in the things I have you do. For my Son is proven.”
These are exciting days for Christians. As we find our true identity in Christ, we will come into the true reason for which we were born. We will walk in spiritual authority and purpose. This is the very reason Satan absolutely doesn’t want us to know who we are. The next time you look into the mirror ask yourself, “Whose am I anyway? Am I truly living that identity out in the world?” This world says everything you need to know, you learn in kindergarten. I say everything you need, you learn from following Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit, and He will help us to walk in our identity as a son or daughter if we allow Him to lead us.