Verse of the Week:
Therefore, if anyone is IN CHRIST, the NEW CREATION has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17My Identity in Christ
Here's a story... I was at the end of my rope with Brayden. It was a tough mommy day in which I felt like I had disciplined non-stop. While I had managed to be patient and calm throughout it all, I was about to blow a fuse. "God give me more patience and perseverance!" I cried out. I wanted to be the most patient mom I could be...but my "me" focused prayer didn't work...I blew my fuse. Once again my flesh won.
Another story...I had another incidence, where Brayden was misbehaving in front of people. As a mom, I was embarrassed and felt that his behavior reflected on my abilities as a parent and what people thought of me. I could just see people saying, "Man, he is really getting out of control. Katrina needs to get a tighter rein on him." I wanted people to see Katrina as a strong Christian woman who had it together and who was an amazing mom to her two boys.
Another story...Brayden was behaving so well in Sunday school and was a perfect angel. "Yep," I thought to myself, "Look at my kid and how well he is acting. We are awesome parents. See everyone!! He is a much better kid than y'all thought!" My pride had exploded to bigger than the size of Manhattan.
Another story... It was time to deliver another meal to a mother with a newborn. Yep, it was my opportunity to show people how kind, generous, and loving I was. Maybe the mom would mention my name on facebook by thanking me for the meal and make me look good.
Last story...hang in there with me there is a point to all of this...There has been an incidence once or twice where when I wrote another blog entry and submitted it, I told myself, I was writing for Jesus, but somewhere inside of me my motive was to make myself look good. I wanted to be an amazing writer with so much wisdom and knowledge to share. I wanted to look famous...despite the fact that my Blog is titled "It's All about HIM and not me." My blog was supposed to be for His glory, and here I was thinking of glory for myself.
Believe it or not, these five stories have something significantly in common. It was my identity. I wanted Katrina to be this amazing Christian, wife, mom, and writer who was considered loving, kind, patient, and generous among her peers and friends.
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| What I wanted my identity to be...Super mom! |
My identity was based on what people thought of me, myself, and I. If I failed, which I do and did, then it was a blow to my soul. I was willing to work hard for this identity because it made me feel good and worth something, but, in the end, I was deceiving myself if I thought all this would bring me fulfillment in my life.
We tend to use the world to establish our identity. People want to feel good about themselves and reach to the things around them that will make them feel good. Some people get their identity from their wealth, job standing, from what people think of them, from the amount of friends they have, from their looks, from whether they are a good parent or not, from their athletic abilities, from their grandchildren, from their successes, or even from their behavior. We use the things of the world to help us feel good about ourselves, but here is the problem: the things of the world are temporary, broken, and will not last. Basing your identity on the broken things will only create an even more broken spirit. That is why basing your identity in Christ is so important. It is the ONLY lasting solution.
Lets back up and view this from a gospel perspective. Christ came to rescue the broken which is everyone in this world. He is the only one unbroken. If you ask Him, he will come INTO YOUR HEART and heal you from your brokenness. God views you through the eyes of Jesus, as unbroken, as righteous, as beautiful, as a masterpiece. In His eyes, you are clean in an unclean world.
All that sounds good right? Lets dig a bit deeper though. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, you are literally asking him INTO YOUR HEART! Christ's spirit is living inside of you. Don't believe me? Well, lets look at a few of many verses that shows that he does.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through HIS SPIRIT IN YOUR INNNER BEING so that Christ may DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS through faith. (Ephesians 3:16-17 emphasis mine)
When Paul talked to the Corinthians, he said:
Do you not realize that Christ Jesus IS IN YOU? (2 Corinthians 13:5 emphasis mine)
Or my personal favorite:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ LIVES IN ME. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 emphasis)
Knowing that Christ is in you is life changing. When Christ came into my heart, Katrina's spirit died and was crucified, and now Christ's spirit lives in me. Yes, my soul (my thoughts, feelings, mind) and body are the same, but my spirit will never be the same because it is Christ's spirit aka the Holy Spirit that lives in me. That is the miracle of salvation. It changes everything. "How?" you ask. Here's how:
1. It changes how God views you.
Before Jesus, in God's eyes you were subject to condemnation and eternal punishment for your sins, but because of Christ, you are forgiven, accepted, and loved by God. Romans 8:1 says, Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS, (emphasis mine) God used Jesus to rescue you from his eternal judgement, and in His eyes you are a new creation. You are forgiven, accepted, and loved...NO MATTER WHAT. Romans 8:38-39 clearly states that nothing will separate those from the love of God who have Christ living inside of them.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD. (emphasis mine)
Who cares what other people think of you. The God of the universe loves you unconditionally because of your new identity in Christ. No longer do you have to look to facebook to feel good about yourself, how many friends you have, or receive the approval from people. The unbroken One loves you more than anything broken in this world.
2. It changes how you view yourself.
You realize that In Christ you are all the things Christ was because His spirit is your own. Sure your body and soul may say different, but your spirit says you are.
You realize that:
In Christ I am patient.
In Christ I am kind.
In Christ I am loving.
In Christ I am a saint.
In Christ I am a masterpiece.
No longer do you look to the world to define who you are. You know who you are and it can change your behavior. I am not saying we will never mess up...if we do, it is because we are operating on the flesh and not the spirit (the spirit has changed, the flesh hasn't). If we focus on our behavior, we are going to mess up, because we are focused on the flesh, but when we focus on who we are in Christ and truly BELIEVE (or have faith) that we are those things, then you see a change come from it.
I heard a story one time of an experiment that was done on some teachers. They placed these teachers in a classroom where there were a few low level learners. However, they told these teachers that these low level learners were advanced high level learners. Because the teachers believed this, they began treating those children as if they were smart and talented throughout the school year. When the students saw how their teachers saw them, they became high level learners. The point of this story is that if the teachers told them they were low level learners like they were, they would have stayed that way, but those teachers told them different so they believed different. The same with our identity in Christ. Knowledge of who we are in Christ can change our behavior, because we are those things in our spirit.
3. It truly changes you.
2 Corinthians 5:17 talks about how you are a new Creation, and you are! It says, Therefore, if anyone is IN CHRIST, the NEW CREATION has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (emphasis mine)
Your spirit is a brand new creation. It really has changed, folks. I once asked my dad what changed when he accepted Christ as a teenager. He told me, "Katrina, I no longer wanted to sin." Before Christ, people's spirit/conscious was based on what they thought was right and wrong. They created their own moral standards, but when Christ comes and dwells inside of your spirit, your standards are now Christ's standards.
Even those who are living life opposite of what Jesus lived still have that spirit change. Author Dan Stone described it like this:
During my early twenties I had a friend in Hopkinsville. He was a saved boy but wasn't practicing it, and I was a lost boy and was practicing it. So he and I would go out together and do the same sinful things. Not long ago we ran into each other and reminisced about that. He said that he has been bothered every night when he went home and went to bed after our outings. He had done something that he hated. He was remorseful. Not the the point of repentance yet, but remorseful. But I did the same things and it never bothered me. It never punctured my nature, because my nature was saying, "Good for you!" But his nature was saying, "That's not me. That's not me." (From the book, The Rest of the Gospel)
Some people have a spirit change but do not live their lives operating from the spirit and so we do not see any Christ-like change in them, but that doesn't mean that the spirit is not within them telling them to stop. When people begin to operate from the spirit, wow the change is amazing!
As Jimmy Cricket used to say, "Always let your conscious be your guide."
In this case, "Always let your Spirit be your guide." Let's operate on our true identity.
Let me conclude with this thought. Authors Dan Stone and David Gregory once said, "Any Activity that's giving you your identity is an idol." When we turn to the world and the things in the world to gain acceptance, self worth, and love, you have made that your idol. While it may give you fulfillment temporarily, it will never produce the lasting fulfillment you desire. Basing your identity on Christ leads to a lasting identity because Christ is unbroken and will never fail you. Christ lives the life in you and gives you a brand new identity, and BOY, what an identity it is!
