Devotion 2 - Our Identity In Christ
Devotion 2 - Our Identity In Christ
Jn.10:10 – “The thief does not come
except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…”
Since the Garden, our true identities have been
stolen and reprogrammed by Satan. Through deceit and lies, he has robbed us of
our God-created identity and thus hindered us from reaching our full potential
in Christ.
We need a biblical understanding of identity to
transform our hearts and renew our minds as we seek to walk in a manner worthy
of the Lord. A secure and healthy identity in Christ will anchor and guide us through
the changing seasons and circumstances of our lives.
Identity Defined – “Who am I?”
Many of us get our identity through external
referencing. In other words, we let others define our identity. When we are young, we build our identity from
what our parents tell us, our teachers tell us, etc. For that reason, those who
suffered verbal abuse since young, tend to grow up with very poor self-image
and low self-esteem. When we are teenagers, we usually get our identity from
our peers and when we are adults, we get our identity from our career
achievements, social and financial status, success, etc, etc. In short, we
allowed the outside force to define who we are!
As Christians, our true identity is not so
much of ‘who I am’ but ‘whose I am’. Our identity is to be found in our
relationship with Christ and not in our positive or negative life experiences. There are several
essential components regarding our identity. We will start with the most basic
and yet profound question, “Who am I as a Christian or what does it mean to be
in Christ?”
“In Christ”, or similar expressions like “in him” or “in the Lord”, are
found over 170 times in the New Testament and it simply means being united
to Christ. Clearly, this is a very important concept in our Christian life.
“In Adam” vs “In Christ”
1 Cor.15:22 –
“For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be
made alive.”
1 Cor.15:45 – “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a
living being.” The last Adam became a
life-giving spirit.”
The “last Adam”
here is clearly referring to Christ. Thus, through these two verses, we learn
that all of humanity is basically represented by two men, Adam and Christ.
In the beginning,
God created Adam to be the representative of human race. Hence, as a result,
the consequences of his sin fell upon all humanity.
Rom.5:12 – “Therefore, just as through one-man sin
entered the world, and death through sin, and thus
death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
We all sinned
because we are united to Adam. All humanity suffered the consequence of Adam’s
sin. Through
our union with Adam, we are all born sinners and thus, we behave like serial
sinners, sinning every day in thought, word, deed and motive.
Ps.51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
We
are conceived with a sinful nature, because we are “in
Adam” and we all come into the world “in
Adam”. Paul puts it aptly in Eph.2:1-3
“And you He made alive, who
were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you
once walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works
in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all
once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…”
“In Adam”, we are all spiritually
dead, slaves to the world, the devil and our sinful passion, and thus also
objects of God’s wrath. And by default, because Adam becomes an orphan, we all
suffered an Orphan Spirit.
What does it mean by being “In Christ” ?
2 Cor.5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
To be ‘Born again’ means we are born into a new identity, we are a new
creation. And to be ‘Baptized into’ means to be ‘joined with’. When we were
joined with Christ Jesus, we joined Him in His crucifixion, His death, and His
resurrection. In other words, we died to our own identity and we took on His
identity. Sadly, many, after the born-again experience, continue to be more
conscious and concerned about our worldly identity rather than our spiritual
identity. We continue to enjoy our inferior identity rather than be satisfied
by our superior identity. Thus, we are always trying to prove our significance
rather than walking in obedience.
If our identity issues are not settled, we will
always struggle with fully surrendering ourselves to God. When we continue to
live out our identity in Adam, we will always live for Love. But
if we live out our identity in Christ, we will live from Love!
Identity & Prayer Life
When the disciples asked
Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus demonstrated to them the spirit of
sonship, “Our Father in heaven…” (Matt.6:9). Jesus could have used
other titles such as Lord, Almighty God, Jehovah, etc, etc. However, He wanted
us to know that the Creator God was not only His Father but also “our Father”.
In the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the
dead, Jesus made a very important statement:
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