I cringed.
Someone was calling me by my maiden name.
I was in a shopping mall, and a woman a few feet away had recognized me. I’d been a Christian for a short time, and was visiting my parents in my hometown.
At the time, I was covered with shame about who I’d been before I met Christ, and I was embarrassed about the things I’d loved before I loved Him.
So, I avoided everyone who’d known me “back then.”
What I didn’t understand at the time is that I was having an identity crisis.
I couldn’t grasp the truth that, since “I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galations 2:20, TLB), my identity had changed.
Over time, I learned I didn’t have to duck every time someone from my past called my name. No matter what I’ve done, I can be secure in the spiritual identity I have in Christ.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT WHO I AM?
In this day and age, we’re a little skittish about our identity. We create new passwords and guard our PIN numbers to help keep our personal information safe.
To be honest, we should be every bit as diligent about protecting our spiritual identity. We need to know who we are in Christ and guard that knowledge carefully. Otherwise, we’re in danger of a spiritual identity crisis.
We need to ask: What does the Bible say about who I am?
WE INHERIT AN IDENTITY AT BIRTH
The answer to “What does the Bible say I am?” begins with Adam. Both our DNA and our spiritual condition can be traced all the way back to him. We all inherited his sinful nature. That’s why a three-year-old instinctively knows how to throw a temper tantrum. In other words, we all have a natural bent toward wanting our own way.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned”
Romans 5:12,Christian Standard Bible
Adam’s sinful condition separated him from God. And so does ours. As soon as he sinned, Adam died spiritually (he was no longer united spiritually with God) and we’re born the same way.
WE CAN HAVE A NEW IDENTITY!
The good news of the Bible is that we can be born AGAIN in Christ!
“But now God has shown us a different way to heaven—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like”
Romans 3:2-22, The Living Bible
In a glorious act of mercy and love, God provides a way for us to have a new spiritual identity.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 (NLT)
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT WHO I AM IS MORE THAN WORDS. IT’S REAL.
A new spiritual identity changes us from the inside out. Although it would be impossible to list all the changes that take place, here are five of them:
1. We act differently
My youngest daughter has loved Disneyworld since she was a little girl. We visited the parks countless times while she was growing up. So, it wasn’t a huge surprise that her first job after college was in the entertainment department at Disneyworld.
Shortly after my daughter started her new job, we went to Magic Kingdom on her day off. And that’s when I realized she didn’t act like a Disneyworld park guest anymore.
During a stroll down Main Street, she stopped to pick up an empty cup and dropped it in a trash can. When an elderly man lost his balance and overturned his soft drink, my daughter sprang into action and notified a cast member who retrieved a new one. She frequently paused to offer directions and eagerly reached for the phones of guests who were trying to take group photos.
As a cast member, my daughter saw herself as an ambassador for Disney even on her days off. None of those actions made her a cast member. But being a cast member made her want to do all those things.
As we begin to respond to God’s Spirit living in us, we act differently.
We don’t act the same way we used to because our spiritual identity has changed. After all, we’re alive in Christ!
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him”
Romans 6:8, TLB
2. Our self-image changes
As Christians, I believe one of our biggest problems is our self-image. That’s because we neglect to see ourselves in light of Scripture.
We’re alive in Christ! And the Bible describes who we are in Him.
“So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to him, through Jesus Christ our Lord”
Romans 6:11, TLB
Consistent Bible study helps us develop a true and clear picture of who we really are in Christ. And nothing else will improve our self-image more!
3. We let go of the things that don’t look like Christ
Because we have the sinless nature of Christ in us, we don’t have to sin.
We do have a choice.
“Do not let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires” Romans 6:12, TLB
That’s why the Bible says to present “all the parts of yourselves” to God. Nothing is off limits. A bad temper? An addiction? Bitterness? Lying?
Surrender them to God.
He’ll use them for good.
“Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God—every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes”
Romans 6:13, TLB
4. Our past no longer defines us
On the Cross, Jesus said “it is finished,” or tetelestai. That term means paid in full. In those days a criminal served his time and then was released with a verdict of tetelestai. He’d paid the full price. He was free, and no one could treat him like a criminal or hold his past over his head anymore.
In Christ, your past is no longer held against you. The penalty for all your sin is paid. “Your old sin-loving nature was buried with him by baptism when he died; and when God the Father, with glorious power, brought him back to life again, you were given his wonderful new life to enjoy” (Romans 6:4, TLB).
You can let your past go. God doesn’t hold it against you. In fact, “He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12, TLB).
Walk in freedom.
5. Sin becomes a huge deal to us
We all fall. We get dirty. Some of us may even wallow in sin for a while. But if we belong to Christ, we won’t stay in the pigpen. Pigs live in pigpens and they love it, but sons and daughters don’t love pigpens. That’s why the prodigal son came to his senses and went back to his father.
“Thank God that though you once chose to be slaves of sin, now you have obeyed with all your heart the teaching to which God has committed you. And now you are free from your old master, sin; and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness”
Romans 6:17-18, TLB
We are children of God, loved and accepted by Him. And sooner or later the stench of the pigpen will make us want to get up and go back to our Father.
OUR NEW SPIRITUAL IDENTITY CAN’T BE STOLEN
It’s been a few decades since that first encounter as a Christian with someone from my past. Since then, I’ve grown more confident about the spiritual identity I have in Christ.
Now I understand that, no matter what someone knows about who I was, it doesn’t define who I am.
God loves and accepts me. He forgave me and set me free. I have the Spirit of God living in me. And no one-not even someone from my long ago past-can steal any of that from me.
Who we are in Christ is who we are forever.
For a list of Bible verses about who the Bible says I am (along with other free resources), click HERE.
