There’s no shortage of opinions on who you should be, what you should want, where you should be in life, how you should vote, what you should care most about, etc.
It seems like we are often reinventing ourselves, or “evolving”, possibly?
God doesn’t want you to be someone you aren’t. But, you should acknowledge that whoever you are, right now, may not be who he actually created you to be. You are in transition. Your past experiences don’t define you and neither do your present circumstances.
You didn’t come up with the idea of your existence, God did. So he alone gets to determine who you become. And he’s going to keep working on you until you become the person he created you to be!
Not all identities are equal
- Dad, Husband, neighbor, Sears, coach, American, white, 52 year old, Celtic fan, Christian, Son, etc.
- While these things reflect who I am naturally, some have greater value than others
- Do I have a greater responsibility to my whiteness or to my Christian faith?
- Do I have a greater responsibility as a husband or coach?
[Philippians 1:1-6]
“This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
“God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finished!”
[Philippians 1:20-21]
“For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.”
[Philippians 1:27]
“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.”
- ABOVE ALL, I’m a citizen of heaven conducting myself in a manner worthy of the Gospel
- My lifestyle, spending habits, voting record, activism, educational pursuits, career objectives, and family goals must be worthy of Jesus
You don’t bring Christianity into your other identities, your identity is buried with Christ and now all expressions of your identity flow from what He would want for you
Money, sexuality, patriotism, gender, education, ethnicity all threaten to steal your identity in Christ.
- BUT if you saw yourself FIRST as a the expression of the life of Jesus in your place, the way you handled every other aspect of your life would become holy and healthy
[2 Corinthians 5:20]
“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’”
[Galatians 3:28]
“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
For today, evaluate all of the identities you wear, asking which expression is inconsistent with what the Bible says.
- Sexuality
- Career
- Family
- Influence
- Hobbies and Free time
- Community