Your True Identity
God calls us His children.
But, what does that mean? To be a child of God, is that…special?
Not only is it special, it’s incomparable. There’s no other title like it. To be a child of God is affirm that the undeserving, merciful, love of God has captured and transformed our identity from the inside out, allowing us to rise above the darkness, brokenness, and sin of this world.
But, how quickly we forget.
The media we digest on a daily basis constantly bombards us with false ideas about who we are or what we should believe.
God’s gentle reminder to you and to me is to remember who you belong to. Because when we remember who we belong to, we know what to believe in.
The apostle John doesn’t mince words in John 10:10 when he says,
“The thief (or the devil) only comes into our lives to do three things: to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” He is the supreme agent of chaos and evil (John 10:10, NIV).
To fully grasp and securely rest in our identity as children of The Light, we must begin by acknowledging and admitting the presence of darkness around us. John doesn’t deny or ignore this fact. He admits it. The enemy’s primary objective is to steal, kill, and destroy our identity.
But, in 1 John 3:1, John reminds us who we are and, more importantly, who God is. He says,
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1, NIV).
John’s trump card to the surrounding forces of evil is that their power has no hold on children of God. That love defeats hate, light defeats darkness, and good defeats evil in the end. We belong to God, the Creator of the world, the most powerful Being to ever exist.
“To fully grasp and securely rest in our identity as children of The Light, we must begin by acknowledging and admitting the presence of darkness around us.”
He calls us his own.
This isn’t something we’ve earned or deserve, we don’t have to work for it, reach a certain number of followers or likes, look a certain way, or be supernaturally talented to be worthy of God's love.
Your identity as a child of God—should you choose to pledge your allegiance to Jesus—is secure. It is freely given to you to accept or reject.
So, the next time culture attempts to sabotage your soul with lies, hurt, shame, or guilt, remember who you belong to!
Remember that Christ died for you.
The real you.
The you that is underneath all that the world says you need to be.
The you that’s beneath all that you’re pretending to be.
Perhaps you’re reading this and you’ve been working so hard to achieve affirmation, acceptance and worth and yet, your identity rests in a God who was willing to allow Himself to be killed so you wouldn’t have to in your vain attempt at worthiness. A God who sacrificed everything so you wouldn’t have to strive for anything. He died for you, despite the fact that you’re imperfect, despite the fact that you mess up and make mistakes, and despite the fact that you would betray him over and over again, he says, “YOU! You are my child.”
That is true love.
God—who looks past all of your imperfections—that is who you belong to.
Culture is not inherently evil, but it is not deserving of your worship. Don’t give the things that you see on a daily basis on Instagram or Twitter or Netflix the right to tell you who you should be, what you have to become or who you belong to. You have the power to rise above those things—to call them out as a lie from the enemy and to declare that they have no place in your heart.
“Your identity rests in a God who was willing to allow Himself to be killed so you wouldn’t have to in your vain attempt at worthiness.”
The only one worthy of all our adoration and praise and thanksgiving is God. He is the only one that has delivered on His promise of giving you something of worth.
Be encouraged.
