Having a changed identity through Christ

Editor’s note: This is a reprinted column from Jack Purcell’s “On the Journey” archives. It originally appeared in The Star in 2013.

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t either get something by email or see something on TV warning me about the perils of identity theft.

It seems like the whole world out there wants to be me. Just kidding. However, everybody, it seems, wants my Social Security number and my bank account numbers and, of course, my credit card numbers.

It appears that it is never safe to let your credit card out of your sight anymore. I just wish somebody wanted my credit card bill and my mortgage payment instead.

When I was a kid, it was the boogey man that you were to fear. Now, it is somebody wanting your identity. Well, as my friend Mike Wells would say in situations like this , “Well, amen.”

There is another form of identity theft that just might cause you more grief than your credit card being stolen. It would appear that a large portion of the Christian community has had their identity stolen.

Most Christians seem to find their identity in their work or occupation or their status or investment portfolio or maybe their reputation or superlative family. On the other hand that all sounds positive and there are many people whose identity is wrapped up in their behavior.

Some people have their identity in the fact that they are obese or that they are stupid just like their parents told them. For some it may be that their body is covered in tattoos.

A false identity can be positive or negative. It still has the same effect.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, your identity has been changed forever. You are not the summation of things and behaviors. You are no longer defined by the things I have listed and all the others that might come to mind.

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3).

“You are not your own, for you have been bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

You are, first of all, a child of God, and it is absolutely imperative that you see yourself that way. Think of the difference it would make to a person who sees himself as a child of God versus a thief.

If you identify yourself as a thief you are likely to live out of that identity and steal things. If on the other hand your identity is that of a child of God, your behavior is likely to look like a Christian. It is no secret that people often live up to the expectations of others.

Don’t be confused here. Behavior does not make the Christian. A Christian with an accurate identity will behave in a Christian manner – unless, of course, he or she forgets who they really are and lapses back into the behavior patterns of their old identity .

So, the question for you to answer for yourself is this. Have you allowed the culture to steal your identity or are you walking in a manner that says you understand who you are in Christ? I pray the latter is the case.