Our Identity is in Christ
In the beginning, our identity was stolen from us. God made Adam and Eve to be the product of His divine creation. God gave them a perfect garden, full of peace, beautiful plants and animals. They were able to live in His perfect love without any distractions or lies. The only request God made of Adam and Eve was not to eat any fruit from the tree of life; the tree of good and evil.
But lets see what it says in Genesis 3:6-7
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves
When Eve took a bite from the apple of the tree of life everything changed. From that moment we have had an identity crisis. From that moment, sin and darkness entered the world that would follow through from generations to generations.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Let’s read what it says later on, in verse 9:
But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God went looking for Adam and Eve, even though they disobeyed him; even when they were full of shame and regret, God didn’t lose sight of them. He is looking for each one of us too. He never gives up on His children.
Before this world began, God wanted you. He saw a vision of His people and chose you.
So, you and I have the choice to either choose Him back or continue down the path that Adam and Eve took. You see, our identity will never be found in the world or in the darkness Eve tip-toed into.
When we accept Christ into our hearts, the person we were before dies, and we are reborn as a “new creation.” We lose our old identity and receive our new one. We no longer identify with the world and all its lies. We identify with Christ, and we become set apart. Our faith in Him distinguishes us from others (or at least it should!).
Your identity is in Christ ... even when you fall back into sin.
Your identity is in Christ ... even when you get a bad grade on a test.
Your identity is in Christ ... even when you sit alone in the lunch room.
You have the power every single day to say no the world and yes to Jesus.
Last night, I had the amazing opportunity to speak to some awesome young people in the city I live in. Here are some points that we talked about last night <3
1. The foundation and purpose for life is Jesus
If we don’t have a foundation in Jesus, we will worship something else. But the thing is is that nothing else but Jesus can fill our lives. Technology, our school work, our friends, social media, popularity, all of it is only temporary. It may make us happy for a while, but in the end we will never find our purpose in these things.
1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Why is it important to have our foundation in God? Because everything builds on top of that foundation. Without God as the stronghold, we won’t be able to lve our life the way God designed us to. We would eventually tumble fall and feel hopeless. When we have our foundation in God, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have any hard times, but it does mean that with God we will become unshakable. He will give us His strength to keep going.
We don’t become more precious on the day we graduate from high school. We don’t become more valuable the minute we figure out our career path and we don’t become more meaningful when we get our first boyfriend or girlfriend.
You are already more precious, meaningful and valuable than you may possibly know by the Creator of everything and the one who holds you in the palm of His hands.
You are held in the highest form of love and nothing and no one can take that away from you.
2. Our identity in Christ is based on God’s love for us
We don’t earn it, there’s nothing we can do. It’s because God loves us so much that He calls us his sons and daughters.
God designed you for a purpose. He knit you together (Psalm 139). So, you just have to be you. You don’t have to change or try to be someone else.
God never changes the way He views us either. He is the same yesterday, today and forever more. He is the stronghold that never changes.
Our identity in Christ is based on God’s love for us. And there’s nothing more to it than that.
3. The most important thing you can own is your bible
We cannot call ourselves a Christian and not read our bibles. Like we learned above, our identity is in Christ, which means we need to grow in His likeness. How do we do that? By getting to know and understand who Jesus is. The best way to do this is through the bible.
This is what happens when we read our Bibles:
1. We will know how to live in Gods truth – we won’t give into the lies like Adam and Eve did
2. We will be able to be alert when we are tempted
3. We will remember that we don’t have to follow what everyone around us is doing
4. We will remember our purpose in this life is to love Jesus
5. It will teach us all about God’s character and how to live it out ourselves
6. We will remember how much Jesus loves us
7. It will help us reflect Jesus in every day life
Another important aspect when reading our Bible is that it becomes a weapon against the evil one. When our foundation is set in God and we know His Word, we will know how to protect ourselves from the worlds lies.
What are some lies that we believe?
Here’s a lie: I’m such a failure
Here’s the truth: I am a child of God.
1 Cor 15:57 says, “He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Here’s a lie: I can’t take this any longer
The truth: I have the power to endure
1 John 5:4 says, “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the vicoty that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
Here’s another lie: I’ll never recover from this horrible circumstance. Life will never be the same
Here’s the truth: God will cause all things to work for Good in my life Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Here’s one more lie: Nobody understands what I’m going through.
The truth: Jesus understands what I’m going through. He carried the cross for me. Nothing in this life can compare to the depth of pain He went through to save me.
Hebrews 4:15 says. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are.”
We have the power to step into trust and truth through Christ Jesus.
4. We are made in God’s image, not the world’s image so we are free to not follow the patterns of this world
Do any of you ask the question, “How will I fit in?” well guess what? God didn’t create us to just fit in. It’s not like when we are at basketball practice and some of the players have to be benched. We all have a part to play – a different part to play, so we can’t fit in like so many of us believe we should.
When our identity is in Christ and our foundation is set in Him, we don’t have to be trapped by the culture and society’s rules. With Jesus, there’s no status quo. Theres no box that we have to fit in.
We weren’t created to simply follow what everyone around me is doing. We have the power to question our motivtes, atttidues and make sure the reason why we do what we do is because we love Christ.
It is a privilege to represent Christ.
You see, our purpose for living is His purpose. When we learn to love Jesus and share that love with others by the way we live we’ve found the greatest treasure this life can give us.
5. We were created to dream God sized dreams
I believe God has given every single one of us passions, desires, and dreams that are waiting to burst out from inside you. God has planted them, and they still need lots of time to grow, but they are there. When I was in high school I really struggled with beleivng that I was talented. I could barely pass my grades and I could never keep up with the kids in sports. I thought that God had forgotten about me. But He hadn’t. The schools are awesome, but sometimes they don’t tap into how great our God is. I just hadn’t tapped into the creavitiy that God had given me. Now, I love to write, travel and do photography. I also love to decorate my house and cook for people. These are all gifts and talents God gave me, but I just didn’t know that yet.
IS there something that drives you to do courageous things? Is there a stirring in your heart to do something that no one has thought of yet?
Here is a set of questions that might help your heart and mind to tap into that creativity that God has given you:
1. What gives me the most joy?
2. What am I good at?
3. What are my goals? Write out a list of goals.
4. How do others view me? Get advice from others. Sometimes
knowing how they view you can help you determine your gifts
and abilities.
5. What is my favourite subject in school?
6. Is there a desire, dream, or goal inside of me that I still need
to pursue?
The thing we have to remember is that dreams and goals don’t happen overnight, and usually we have to wait on God for a long time and allow Him to grow and stretch us. I started out ending high school with wanting to become a counselor, but along the journey God gave me a passion to also do mission trips, travel, and write. All of this is tied up in my passion, but God is boundless and when we live for Him, He wants to show us more than we could possibly imagine at the start of our dream.
This is the secret about living out your dreams talent and goals: we still have to place God as our identity. He still has to be the reason for what we do. And when we surrender and trust Him with our dreams, He will literally take us to places we never thought possible.
Proverbs 16:3 says, “commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” And 1 Thess. Says, “no eyes have seen no ears have heard and no mind can fully comprehend what God has in store for those who love Him.”
Jesus doesn’t ask if we got an A on a paper, he asked, “Did you work your hardest for me?” Jesus doesn’t ask if you have tomorrow all planned out, he askes, “do you trust me?” And Jesus doesn’t compare us to other people, he says, “will you use the gifts and talents I gave you to show others I love them?”
We were never meant to limit what God can do in our life. He is boundless and He has no limitations.
And our God is wild
7. Only you can live out your story
Fear seems to be taking over our generation. What are you fearful of? I think a lot of us are afraid to live out our story. we are afraid to be different. We are afraid to stand out. We are afraid to stand alone. But God didn’t make two human beings the same. He made us different for a reason.
And remember, our identity is in Christ, so we don’t have to compare ourselves to others or pretend to be someone else. As you and I grow in our likeness of Christ, read our Bible and understand His character we will also learn to better understand ourselves. And if we understood who God individually made us to be, we wouldn’t want to be someone else.
If you don’t be you, who will be?
God made no mistakes when He made you. None. Everything was desisgned with a plan and purpose in mind.
How you and I live out our life is a testimony. We don’t have to walk up to every stranger and give them a 20 minute testimony. Our testimony is in our actions, our motives, how we treat others around us, etc.
And if we love God and who He created us to be, it will show others that they too can find their identity in Christ.
We have to dare to be different. We have the power to stand up and live out our story in freedom. When Jesus walked this earth, He was the King of the world, but instead of living in a castle He became the most radical homeless man ever lived. Don't be afraid to beat a different rhythm than others because God is designing something radical in you
No one else on this planet has your personality, creativity, passion or story. This is God’s gift directly to you, so we need to own it!
Our story is more than just words; its in our actions, motives and thoughts every single day.
Remember, in Christ you are:
You are worth celebrating.
You are special.
You are loved.
You are unique.
So let’s stay focused on God, loving who He has made us to be and never apologizing for loving Jesus.