Our Identity in christ
Our identity is crucial to our personal wholeness and growth in holiness. It’s a buzzword these days in secular society. No matter who we are, how we live is going to flow from our identity. Another way to say it is we behave according to who we believe we are. For this very reason, the foundation of our human and spiritual integration is tied to who God is. We have to get more foundational than the fact that we are his sons and daughters. We must know what He’s like!
These days genealogy and DNA testing are ways that people might choose to come to know more about their ancestors. Learning more about the people they came from sheds light on how they see and understand themselves. How much more does it reveal to us who we are by coming to know who God is?! After all, we are made in His image and likeness, as Genesis tells us. God is good and not only good, but it’s impossible to conceive of any greater good than He!
Parents image God for us, yet none of us have had perfect parents. So, many times we have somewhat of a less-than-perfect picture. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to know in our hearts that God is deeply good. When we’ve experienced hurt at the hands of parents or those in authority, it can color how we see Him. That can happen even without our conscious awareness and even when we are very educated in Theology or are clerics or religious.
One thing I have found helpful and often recommend to clients is to consider ways our parents behaved that were painful and prayerfully. Make a list. Mom was like this, but God is like that. Dad was like this, but God is like that. Perhaps you’ll have a list of a number of things from both parents. Seeing down on paper how differently God is and acts toward us from hurtful ways we experienced authority can be an important first step in untwisting confusing messages we took on as children or young adults.
From there, we consider who He is and who we are to Him. Sometimes give this a try. Sit in God’s presence and imagine Jesus there with you praying for the Our Father together. It’s astounding to think that when I pray “Our” Father, I am praying with Jesus to God, His Father and my Father. Let’s take some time to let that reality pierce our hearts and ground us in our identity as a son or daughter of a GOOD Father!
May the Lord give you peace!
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