Our identity?

Our identity?

Promotions, graduations, vacations, hobbies, reading, gardening, hiking, camping, cooking, sewing, fishing, sailing, skydiving, growing, studying, planning, organizing, downsizing, dieting, getting well, loosing weight, getting in shape, getting away, writing, recovering, building up, tearing down, removing, waiting, rushing, going, coming; all these “ings”.

Do the “ings" bog you down, do they refresh you, do they energize you?

Do you do any of these things because you want to or because you need to or because you have to?  As you go through the summer months this year think a bit about your “identity”.  Is your identity formed by any of these things?  These things we do.  We are often branded by the thing we do.

Branding is a big thing in business and organizations all around us.  

We too are branded in many ways; by neighbors, co-workers, friends and even family.  Recently I was with a friend and his wife. They hail from a family that owns a very successful international company that his father founded.  It is now transitioning from his to a third generation to manage the enterprise.  He was introduced as the son of the inventor/founder of the company.  Yes, although that is true, that is not what he is.  He is much more than just that as a person.  So are you.  You are more than where you go to school, or where you live, or where you work, or how many children or grandchildren you have, or what you drive, or _______ you fill in the blank. 

Years ago my wife Sharon and I had a young family and a business and both of us were active in a church and community activities.  She started attending a weekly community Bible study. The first week in her small breakout group of a few women, she was asked to share something about herself - without mentioning her family, her church, or her work.  That was not easy as she tells the story because she was so programmed to share all the things that were off limits.  They wanted to know something about her, just her.  I always liked that.  They wanted to know her identity in her own words.

As Christians we have accepted a new identity, an identity based on Jesus Christ, the son of God, not the fabrications of what we think we should be, or what others think we should be. 

To quote Pastor Tate Crenshaw, “We are children of God. I know it. I live it. I love it.”

Related Bible verses:
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”
                    2 Corinthians 5:17  ESV

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."
                    1 John 3:2 ESV