Identity in Christ

Identity is an important thing. It defines who we are, what we do, and how we interact with others as it either limits or builds our security and confidence. According to www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary , identity is "the distinguishing character or personality of an individual, individuality, or the relationship established by psychological identification." When someone asks to see your identification, you usually pull a card out of your pocket, wallet, or purse that describes you with a set of statistics: height, weight, gender, some kind of code or number, hair color (as if you can’t already tell that I’m blonde), and so on.

We live in a culture that tries to tell us that our identities are defined by our actions, our experiences, our achievements, our education, our bank accounts, or even our appearances. This world has a set of standards that it uses to measure us, and make certain that when we don’t measure up to those standards that we know it.

But did you know that, as Christians, we have a special identity in Christ? Sure, I’ve always known that. "I’m made in the image of God, I’m the daughter of the King of kings, I’m precious and loved, and He sent His Son to die for me so that I can be forgiven." It’s the stuff I’ve spouted off since Sunday School when I was four, of course I know that!

Then things started happening in my life that showed me just how insecure I was in this identity. I found myself letting the culture I live in identify me. To help solve this identity crisis, my counselor gave me a list of words that God uses in the Bible to describe me with the reference for the verse where each identity is found. As I started to look at who I really am in Christ, there were several other people in my life who were simultaneously studying the same thing… and each of them had another list. As everybody continued studying and collaborating, and as I continued compiling everything that I was learning, I quickly realized that I wanted to go into more depth with this identity that I was learning about. There is so much more to each item on this inexhaustive list than just a couple of memory verses.

As I continue to learn who I really am in Christ, I invite you to join me on this journey. I’m going to use Bible verses, Biblical stories, research, music, videos, art work, poetry, anecdotes, largely worthless statistics that you’ll never remember once you leave this page, and whatever else I possibly can to create as deep of a definition as I can for each of these things that we are because of Christ. I encourage you to apply each one to yourself, and share with others what you’ve learned. There are few things in this world as powerful as when Christians join together to learn things with each other! If you’d like to share what you feel something means to you or if you have something to add, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you! Let’s team up and learn together!

So grab your Bible, highlighter, pen, note pad, and coffee (or Mountain Dew, for those of us not patient enough to "acquire the taste" for coffee), and join me on my adventure to discover our true Identity in Christ!