After Sunday's message, I've had a few conversations about the foundation of our identity. I simply want to give you what God says about you, if you have placed your faith in His Son. And after you work through these passages I want to remind you that this is not your RESUME, it's your DNA! Here is the bit from Sunday, and it's in the Rooted Guide as well:
One of the common knocks against Christianity is that it’s just a bunch of rules.
I hope by now, you’ve seen clearly that it’s all about a relationship with God the Father, through the grace and cleansing of Jesus the Son, by the power of God the Spirit.
God loves us, saves us, frees us, heals us. He has made us in his image for a purpose, and now he calls us to live a life of high calling and huge impact. Since he is the author of life, his commands are not only for his glory, they are for our best.
But we want to make sure that you understand the Christian life is not fundamentally about what you do for Jesus.
It is primarily about who you are in Jesus.
The Bible defines our identity clearly (and its quite incredible, really):
I am a child of God (John 1:12)
I am a son or a daughter of the Lord of the Universe (Romans 8:15,16)
I am Christ’s friend (John15:15)
I am a temple of God—His Spirit and his life dwells in me (1 Corinthians 3:16,6:19)
I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am a member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 5:30)
I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God’s family (Ephesians 2:19)
I am God’s workmanship, born anew in Christ to do his work (Ephesians 2:10)
I am resourced with everything I need to live for Christ (1 Peter 1:3)
I am hidden with Christ, in God (Colossians 3:3)
I am a citizen of heaven and have a place in heaven right now (Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:6)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot harm me (1 John 5:18)
I am a partaker of Christ, I share in his life (Hebrews 3:14)
I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:13)
I am the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:14)
I am a member of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9,10)
I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing his inheritance with him (Romans 8:17)
And since we are in Christ, by God’s grace:
I am completely forgiven and made righteous (the theological word for this is “justified”) (Romans 5:1)
I died to the power of sin’s rule over my life (Romans 6:1-6)
I am free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1)
I have been given the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16)
I have been bought with a price, I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
I no longer live for myself, but for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14,15)
What we do for the Lord will flow joyfully from who we are in the Lord. The closer we sense we are to our loving Father, the more confidence we’ll have in our identity. The more confidence we have in our identity as his son or daughter, the more his life will flow through ours—and the more people will be impacted by his love.
Understand your identity.
Be intimate with him, and experience his power in your life.
Today’s response
Look up a few of the passages above, and read them in context.
How often do you consciously remember that these verses are what is MOST true about you as a follower of Jesus?
How would your life change if you WERE more conscious of your identity in him?
Spend some time in prayer affirming these truths in your life and thanking Jesus that you are indeed a new creation by the power of his Spirit.
