It seems to me that we may have made an idol out of “our identity in Christ”. It’s been a very popular teaching and has its roots in the bible, but I believe there’s a need for a course correction.
I mean by that, that our focus has been strongly placed on our identity when it should be placed on Christ Himself.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, to correctly understand our identity we need to look away from ourselves and focus completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
The problem is not that we don’t know our identity, the problem is that we don’t know God!
Our greatest need is to know God, not ourselves.
“For they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest…” -Jeremiah 31:34
If we really knew Jesus everything else would fall into its proper place.
If I am near Him, if I am beholding His face, if I am walking in daily communion and intimacy with Him, I don’t have a problem with my identity- I know who I am, because I know whose I am.
“For there stood by me this night an angel of the God whose I am, whom also I serve…” -Acts 27:23
I’m His and I know it!
There is no higher identity than that.
The greatest liberating power in all the world is when we get our eyes off of ourselves and unto Jesus Christ.
Our sinful nature is forever gazing at it’s own navel. It would be better to focus on ANY PART of Jesus than on ourselves!
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18
Focusing on Jesus has transformative power that “comes from the Lord”. Focusing on ourselves is a vain, powerless, fruitless, activity.
Did we miss what Paul said when he declared, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”?
If I no longer live, why am I concerned about my identity??
The Word of God says, “Christ is my life”.
If Christ is my life, maybe my real need is to look at Him and not myself!
Do you recognize the desire of God in the following verse?
“Behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him…”.- Revelation 1:7
Every eye will see HIM. The desire of God is right there.
The Holy Spirit is relentlessly at work to make that a reality in our lives. If God’s work would be perfected in us we would no longer be looking at ourselves, we would be caught up in our pursuit of Jesus, and would have no desire to look away from His face.
I don’t deny that the Word of God instructs us in who we are, but it’s always who we are IN CHRIST.
We never learn who we are by looking at ourselves. We are IN CHRIST so we learn who we are by looking at Him.
As long as we are concerned with our own identity we are living on a lower plane. The Spirit of God would lift us right out of ourselves and into Jesus! The highest place that we can attain is when we are so wrapped up in Him, so caught up in His lovely presence, that we lose all sight of ourselves.