Identity is at the core of human and spiritual integration. It’s key to us being able to act from a mature human place and to being spiritually mature. There are so many things that clamor for our identity and that some gravitate towards – being a member of a certain club, or organization, having wealth or affluence, being a member or fan of a team. While none of these things are bad, they are NOT where our identity lies and provide no basis for our identity.
I was listening to a podcast recently by the founder of the South African Satanic Church who recently converted to Christianity because of a profound experience of Jesus. He said that one of the things people are told when they join the satanic church is that they were rejected in other experiences in life because they were meant to be satanists. Ugh! Can you see the battle for their identity? We see the same thing in our culture where so many suffer and struggle for their identity from their sexual brokenness. It’s so heartbreaking because, again, this is not where our identity lies. St. Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). He’s laying out where our foundational identity is – in the Lord!
We even see in Jesus’ life how essential His identity was and how at the beginning of His public ministry the Father publicly announced His identity as His Beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. Jesus’ identity as the Beloved Son of the Father was crucial to His life as both human and Divine. At the foot of the Cross we see Our Lady, St. John the Beloved, and Mary Magdalene, all of whom had come to know their identity as loved by God in a particular way.
When our identity is founded in who we are as God’s children, we gain courage and confidence. Courage by definition means to take heart. It’s a big difference if we’re taking our own heart or the Lord’s Heart! Confidence means acting with faith. How essential that we act with faith in Him rather than faith in ourselves! That’s a game changer!
Our identity IS in being God’s children! He who is all good, loving, wise, knowing, powerful and Creator of all that is calls us His own children, His own sons and daughters. Being His child means there’s a relationship. It’s not just a role or title, but refers to the relationship He brings us into by His Spirit of Adoption. Knowing we are chosen, known, valued, protected, and provided for by HIM – THAT is where our identity lies.
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