A Question of Identity
“If Christ is not all to you, He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Saviour of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything He is nothing to you.”
- C.H. Spurgeon
Yesterday, while sitting at a cafe with an old friend, we started talking about where our identity is found. Both of us being Christians, we know that we are found in Christ above all other things. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28-29:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
See, Paul gets it. The Galatians get it. Now that they are in Christ, they have forsaken all other identities. And now that we are found in Christ, we are heirs to the inheritance promised to Abraham. We are found in Christ! Not just next to, not just a reflection of, not just similar to, but in Christ!
If you do not understand the weight of that, let me explain.
21st century Christians are under the new covenant. In short, the new covenant is the blood of Christ poured out on the Cross for us, so that by His death and resurrection we can be saved without sacrifices and offerings (see Luke 22:20). This covenant is talked of in Jeremiah 31:31-34. YHWH says through Jeremiah, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
As believers under this new covenant, THE new covenant, we are no longer called our own. We are God’s chosen people! We have His law within us, written on our hearts, so that we are know His. But how are we made God’s chosen people by this new covenant?
In Ephesians 2:13 Paul writes, "But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” I’m not sure that can be any clearer! It is by the blood of Christ that we are saved into the new covenant! We were once slaves to our own sin but now we are saints by grace! THAT is our identity! Christ is who we are!
So I have one question to ask: Where is your identity found?
Is it found in your family? Is it in your social standing? Is it in your job? Is it in your likes or dislikes? Is it in your taste in music? Is it in your sexuality? OR Is it found in Christ alone?
This is a struggle for me each and every day. Every morning, as I wake, I need to remind myself who I am. I am not my own. I am not myself. I have denied that for the sake of Christ. I am His and His alone.
Knowing this is one of the most important things in my life. To be found in Christ has been my greatest joy, my greatest source of peace, my one and only hope in this world. And I battle to remember this each day as I fight the sinful desires of my flesh. Yet, in all of this, He remains faithful when I do not. He remains on the throne eternal despite my sin. His blood washes all my sin and shame so that I may be free to live for Him.
So I’ll ask once again:
Where is your identity found?
Amen.