To write from our identity in Christ, we must know and believe it.
A basic premise, but it’s an imperative to our lives as Christ-followers. If we do not know Christ firstly, then we will misunderstand or be ignorant of who we are in Him.
Knowing Christ begins with the Word (the Bible). Upon faith leading to salvation, it blossoms into greater fullness as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and we join in fellowship with other believers who know Him.
A constant yearning to know Christ will be satisfied and produce a sure-footedness in our walk as Christ’s ones.
“I want to know Christ, to know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).
Identity is the core of your being, your belonging, and your becoming.
Simple. Yet, anything but simplistic in its nature to conform our thoughts and actions.
Who you are (as a being), who your people are (belonging), and what it looks like to be us (becoming) is identity.
For Christians, this is wonderful enigma, unshakable and unfathomably deep.
You are in Christ.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27).
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
You belong to Christ’s ones, the Church.
“So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5).
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ…this mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:13, 3:6).
It is like us to bear good fruit, increasingly becoming more like Christ.
“This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples” (John 15:8).
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:28-29).
“We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
Why does this matter?
The world, the flesh, and the devil all oppose our identity in Christ. There is a war against who you are as a Christian, because God has given us power through the Holy Spirit to shake the world for His glory!
You will notice a pattern in Scripture: because God is/did, I am/become. For instance, because Jesus came to His own and, to those who believed, He gave the right to become children of God, I am a child of God through faith in Him.
This pattern reveals the root of spiritual attack on our identity in Christ. If we do not believe who we are in Christ, we are truly believing that God did not or is not what Scripture says.
Satan attacks our identity in Christ because he wants to undermine the character of God and blind the lost from Christ’s glory.
If we stand firm, knowing Christ and knowing ourselves in Him, we exalt the character of God and our faces show the glorious light of Christ! That’s what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians 3: 18- 4:6.
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart…and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded their minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…For God, who said, “Let light shine of our darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Let us know! Yearn to know Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done. Seek to know who you are in Him.
Let us believe! Christ is truth and He speaks truth. Believe that He is who Scripture declares Him to be. Believe that you are who He says you are in Him.
If we know and believe who we are in Christ, then we will be immeasurably more fruitful in our ability to pen from our identity in Him.
I have a gift for you! This freebie is an amazing showcase of who God is and who we are in Him!
I encourage you to read prayerfully, look up the Bible passages, and soak it in.
One Comment
This is a wonderful resource! Thank you so much, Alyson!