Let’s talk about identity…
Your identity must be in Christ or the enemy will stomp you!! He will steal, kill, and destroy you and everything that matters to you. He will devour you!
It is so easy to look for identity in all the wrong places. It’s not that “the places” are wrong things, they are not where our identity lies:
- Marriage
- Parenting
- Education
- Careers
- Church
- Relationships
- Home
- Business
- Ministry
- Possessions
- Beliefs
- Gifts
- Service
- Politics
- Looks
- Fitness
- Health
- Goals
- Dreams
- Skills
- Abilities
Did I get yours? That too!
Any of these can shift, change, or even be taken away. Any of these can easily become an idol…and God will not share His glory with another.
Beloved, you are designed for a very specific purpose. God has had a good good plan for you and your life since the foundation of the earth was laid! He literally set your identity then.
Can you even soak that in?
Yes, He gives us very good things. However, if we think those things define us or are our entire purpose, we are at risk of shoving God to the side and making those things our god, our idol.
Let’s get a little personal….
For years, I was known as Harold’s wife…the Trooper’s wife…what was I supposed to be without him? I can answer that question!
Without him, I was at my rock bottom, thinking I could not go on, thinking I had nothing to live for, thinking God could never ever use me again.
But I was wrong.
Just as wrong as when I set him, his approval, his opinions, his desires, and his plans above what God called ME to be and do. It must be a horrible thing to be someone’s idol. (And yes, I repented for that.)
It is definitely true that in our flesh, we experience a longing and desire that can get us in trouble (read Genesis 3 lately—our longing, desire, and turning to our husbands rather than God is a curse not God’s design). God’s design is that our longing and desire would be for HIM alone. Being a wife is not an identity nor a purpose. To make it such is idolatry. God’s design is that our longing, desire, identity and purpose be found in HIM and HIM alone. Anything less is a turning in the wrong direction.
Oh…there is more….
Parenting is a precious gift. My greatest ministry has been within the walls of my own home. However, it is that—a ministry, not an identity. Ministry cannot ever be an identity or it shifts into an idol and no longer ministers! It becomes a curse, filled with pain and disappointment.
Parenting can’t be identity or what happens when you don’t conceive. I have been there and it is gut-wrenching. What if it’s never? What does it mean if you conceive but lose the child? Does it make a person less? Absolutely not!
What if a person conceives and has 10 children….are they more of a person? Do they have more purpose? Heavens no!
Parenting is a huge blessing, but it is also a huge sacrifice. In neither can it shift into identity. The evangelical church today has done that and they are teaching idolatry when they do. It supplants parenting before God and results in a falling away from God’s true design.
Children are not for the purpose of identity. They are not given to become idols, but rather to be trained up and sent as disciples on mission for the kingdom of God. Anything less is idolatry. Identity is not found in an idol, but God alone.
I could go on and on.
God is our source of identity.
Our identity is set by Him alone. It is not wrapped up in our calling, but in our BEING. They are separate!
We will never be able to fulfill our calling fully unless we grasp the fullness of our being. Rather, we will try to “find ourselves” in what we do. We will try to understand and define ourselves by our actions rather than in Jesus Christ.
Apart from Jesus Christ, we have no meaning. Apart from Him, we have no purpose. Apart from Jesus, our identity is rooted in sin, self, and worldly pursuits, even if they are good things.
There is a battle for our identity. The enemy is God’s enemy, Satan. He loves to offer counterfeits for everything God has for us, including our identity.
It looks harmless, however how many never reach their life purpose because they waste everything pursuing a good thing instead of God’s best? How many are clueless about who they are and why they are here?
Beloved, we have identity and purpose in Jesus. Our identity and purpose are only found in Jesus Christ, not in our bodies, our roles, our relationships, our possessions, our achievements, our failures, our needs, our losses, our barrenness, our fruitfulness…our identity and purpose are only found in Jesus Christ!
Dear friend, you have beloved identity—identity as the beloved child of God, the bride of Christ. You are exactly what HE says you are. You have exactly what HE says you have. You can do exactly HE says you can do.
You are called and equipped with everything God says you can have so you can do everything God says you can do.
The key is your identity!
If the enemy can distract, pervert, disguise, accuse, steal, and destroy your identity, he has got you…he’s got your influence!!
If the enemy gets you off track, you will not have the things you are designed to have. You will not do the things God has equipped you to do. You will not go where you alone are called and equipped to go. You will not be who Christ died for you to be.
Today is the day to change that! Today, press into the heart of God. Ask Him to show you who you are, what He has placed inside of you, what you are called to do, and where you are to go. Ask Him to show you what your part is. That’s the YOU He had in mind at the foundation of creation!! Be you!!
Ready for MORE encouragement?
Oh! Don’t miss this episode of my podcast!
Who are you??
When I ask you, “Who are you?” do you wonder? Do you struggle with what that means? Do you feel that sick feeling in your stomach and think, “I just don’t know?” Have absolutely NO idea who you are?
Sweet friend, you are God’s beloved. You have BELOVED IDENTITY!
Tune in here: Click here
