2017/10/12

Discovering Our Identity, Part 2


“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.