Embracing Our Identity In Christ - Know It, Own It, Love It, Live It
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Whose we are is what defines who we are - We are the sheep of his pastures; know it, own it, love it, live it.
Psalm 100:3 (New International Version)
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Whether we are in the absence or in the mist of great strength and achievement in our lives, we are whose we are: not of the world but the sheep of His pastures.
Another great scripture that captures the specifics of this is:
1 Peter 2:9 (New International Version)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
In spite of the clarity of our identity in the scripture, we often drift in our thinking of and understanding of who we are, this often has a consequence on how we see ourselves and how we live out our lives. If we were not sheep of God’s pasture or a royal priesthood as described, our worth and identity would be found in our achievements, our popularity, position or performance. We would be defined by these and live dominated by fear, lacking in courage, with low self worth and confidence, stifling our purpose and our ability to love God, others and ourself, in other words our ability to live by faith.
Outside living by faith, our identity remain on shaky ground, externalised and constantly negotiated with every action and interaction and therefore not rooted in truth. This is because we know all too well that everything is subject to change. This makes it impossible to find real and lasting peace or security.
On the other hand, our identity in Christ is immutable, it is fixed from our mother’s womb, unchanged and eternal as these two scriptures demonstrate.
Psalm 139:13-14 (New International Version)
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Romans 8:35-39 King James Version
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Outside Christ, as humans we mostly view our self based on how society and other people see us. The view of others is very limited clouded by history, experience and an often misguided perspective. It is therefore a travesty when we viewing ourselves through the lens of others as it prevents us from seeing ourselves fully.
God on the other hand, who sees the beginning from the end and all things saw us well before our creation and sees us into eternity. His lens is therefore the lens we need to see ourselves. There is only one truth about our identity and that is that we are who our Creator said that we are: fearfully and wonderfully made, a royal priesthood, sheep of his pastures, and loved. The word of God gives us a new lens and renews us in this truth and help us to stand steadfast in our identity in Christ, let’s make reading the word part of how we stay strong. And let us refuse to continue to exchange this truth for a lie. Let’s embrace God’s word and renew our mind today with the affirmation that we are in reality all that God said we are. That’s how we conquer our giants.
Faith With Finesse wishes to support you to grow into and affirm who you are in Christ. Affirm your identity by reading our blogs, following us on social media or buying one of our many books or faith based products that allows you grow in Christ.
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