Identity is found in the God we trust. Any other identity will self destruct.
-Lecrae
I used to walk around with a fake ID and I didn't know it was fake for the longest time. My identity was wrapped up in what others thought of me. I grew up being put down, let down, pushed around. I had a poor sense of self worth because I had more negative input in my life than positive. Who I thought I was had been based on my fickle emotions. I tried to attain things in this world to be happy, but happiness by the world's standards was temporary. I tried to make myself happy, but happiness did not come from within.
It wasn't until I decided to follow Christ that I realized the ID I was carrying was a fake. All the things I thought I was: unloved, unlovable, rejected, and worthless were all lies I had bought into. Jesus gave me a new ID, opened my eyes to see that I am a child of God, loved by God, created in His image, created with a purpose, and forgiven. If it were not for my identity in Christ, I would not be alive today. It is my identity in Christ that makes life worth living, and nothing can take that away from me.
There are so many things in this world that we choose to wrapped up in, things that we allow to become our identity: what we look like, who we date, what car we drive, how much money we make, what kind of house we live in, our occupations, the possessions we have, the people we call friends, and so on. I have nothing against having nice things, but I refuse to let these things enslave me and affect who I am in Christ. What happens when all these things aren't as nice as they used to be? What happens when things fail us? You won't always have your looks. People can let you down. Cars, money, and houses are all temporary. When everything comes crashing down and fades away, God remains the same. Why choose what is temporary when you can have what is eternal?
20-21As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22-23But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Romans 6 [The Message]
