“For me to live is Christ”
When we become Christians our
identity has an extreme makeover. “Christ is not an accessory to our identity,
as if one were choosing an option for a car. He takes over identity so that
everything else becomes an accessory.” When
we become Christians, Jesus does not become another spoke on the wheel of our
lives. He is the hub who wants to hold the pieces of our life together. All
these spokes—family and friends, health and hobbies, work and leisure, find
their unity and purpose through Jesus.
When Christians put God in
charge of their identity, they are allowing him to inform and transform their
identity. Unfortunately, “we have reduced God to our helper, bowing to our
agenda. A God to help us when we are stuck or weak. . . . We don’t abandon
ourselves to God for his purposes, but we want him to bless our purposes. This
Jesus is not the Lord of our lives; he is the servant of our desires.”
What is the purpose for your
life? God informed Jeremiah that his identity was set before he was born:
Before I
formed you in the womb I
knew you,
before you
were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jer.1:5)
But it isn’t just Christian
leaders whose identity precedes birth:
“We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph.2:10) We all have unique work that God
has assigned before the world was created.
Finding this work is a big part of discovering our identity.
When lesbian professor
Rosario Butterfield gave her life to Christ, her friends thought she “was loony
to the core.” So why did she abandon her lesbian worldview that she believed was
“open, welcoming, and inclusive for one that believes in Original Sin, values
the law of God, seeks conversion into a born-again experience, believes in the
truth of God’s word as found in the Bible, claims exclusivity of Christ for
salvation?” Only one reason: “Because
Jesus is the real and risen Lord and because he claimed me for himself.”
When Rosario was confused
about who she was, she turned to prayer: “I did not know what to do, so
I prayed the Way I had heard my Pastor pray. He often would call upon the Lord
to teach this or that. So I prayed that the Lord would help me to see my life
from his point of view.”
Prayer is where all of us
should begin if we want God’s view of our identity, if we want to understand
the purpose for which he created us. I may not know who I am but God does! That
is why I must start with him.
