Identity
Movement 1: Sometimes we forget
Read: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Reflect: There are times when we simply need a reminder. Things gets in the way and we begin to forget. We forget our true identity.
Life can become so overwhelming that we don’t feel we even have time to stop and remember our identity. There so much going on at work, at home, with the kids, with volunteer roles, at the gym, and with our neighbors. Places to be, people to see, things to do. Typically, we lead very busy, scattered lives. This busyness, while most of it good, can get in the way of our true identity.
Sometimes, we get wrapped up in all of the roles we play and begin to take on those as our identity: wife, husband, son, daughter, father, mother... banker, artist, coach, farmer, nurse, teacher... there are thousands of roles to be held. For the most part, they are good roles. But when we live into them and begin to take them on as our identity, we are entering dangerous territory.
God, the Creator of the universe and the Creator of you, says that when you believe in Him, you become His child. That is your identity: You are a son/daughter of the Most High King.
Stop for a moment and write down all of the roles you play in your life. Reflect on the roles that you have begun to take on as your identity rather than simply a role God has given you to play.
Pray: Thank God for the roles He has sovereignly given you to play in your life. Ask Him to highlight the roles that you have let define you and become your identity. Repent if those have taken the place of the true identity He has given you.
Movement 2: Who he says you are
Read and reflect: Many, many verses in God’s Word help us understand who He says we are. Read and meditate on the verses below. They are all true. They all describe you. Which of these verses describes a part of your identity in Christ that is easy for you to believe? Which describes a part of your identity in Him that is harder for you to believe?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 1 Corinthians 12:26-27
Movement 3: Just be
Reflect: Take time to sit quietly with Jesus. Talk with Him about the pieces of your identity in Him that are harder for you to live into. Ask Him to reveal to you why this is the case. Invite Him to speak to you about who He says you are.
Listen:
Who You Say I Am - Hillsong Worship
You Say - Lauren Daigle