Identified

God’s Word clearly reveals your true identity in Christ, an identity that will transform everything about you, through your childlike faith. Those truly identified in Christ by His Word are changing the world to the glory of God. “…Christ in you, the hope of glory! – Colossians 1:27

What a great place to start on your journey following Jesus. Knowing who you truly are in Christ is so important to growing in Him. If you don’t know this truth and remind yourself daily, you’ll be vulnerable to all the other voices around you that are trying to tell you who you are. Those voices will distract you at the very least, and quite possibly will cause you to wander and stray from your faith.

“[Jesus] has offered us a new identity – His identity. No longer separated from God, but now united with God. No longer stained by sin, but now clean from sin. No longer slaves, but now free. No longer guilty before God as Judge, but now loved by God as Father. No longer deserving eternal death, never to grasp all that God created us to be, but now having eternal life, experiencing more and more exactly who God has created us to be.” – Taken from Counter Culture, Copyright © 2015 by David Platt. 

A sense of being

What an awesome thing when you internalize this new identity that God speaks over you! Just remember when you were a child and your mom or dad, or teacher or coach, or some other significant adult, spoke affirmation into your young life. Those words usually started with “You are…” They were words that proclaimed your special value, worth and purpose. They filled you with a sense of “being” – a new identity. When you have this sense of being that has been declared over you, it can change your life once you act on it! There is no more powerful truth about who you are, about your being – your identity – than the truth that God declares over you. Furthermore, any identity counter to God’s truth about you is a destructive lie.

An important scriptural distinction needs to be understood between:

1. receiving your true identity (2 Corinthians 5:17)
2. identifying in Christ, to walk in that identity. (Colossians 2:6)

Let’s look at that distinction in detail. You receive your true identity when you first believe in Jesus for your eternal salvation (new creation). It’s part of that incredible, instantaneous gift of grace. However, when you choose to respond to Christ in discipleship (i.e. identify in Him), that’s when you begin to internalize it and align with that identity that’s been declared over you, living it out (walking in it). Aligning with your new identity in Christ will, as mentioned above, transform everything about your life going forward as you respond quietly within your heart and soul. This is why your identity is such an important starting point in your walk with Jesus.

“In terms of your heavenly identity, alignment is simply defined as positioning yourself to agree and ally with what God says about you. It’s taking off anything that doesn’t look like the person heaven describes and putting on the things that do.” – Dan McCollam

Whatever you have believed about yourself in the past has invariably driven your thinking and behavior, and controlled the direction of your life. Your entire life so far perhaps has been at the mercy of a false identity. It’s time for an awakening to your true identity!

But your true identity is only transformative once you internalize it, and proclaim that

In Christ, I am