Who Are You? Part 1

Identity Crisis or Identity in Christ
Many people suffer from an identity crisis. It's hard for many people, especially young people, to know who they are and what is their calling or purpose in life. If you were raised in an abusive situation, it's even harder.

One of the hardest things for some people is to make the adjustment from seeing God as Judge to seeing him as Father, Shepherd and loving Savior. Some people see God only as tormentor. Even the great Reformer Martin Luther had this struggle. They live under terrible fear of God and being a Christian does not seem to alleviate this feeling. 

However, seeing God as our Father is the most important transition we can make! It all comes down to this: how do you define yourself, to yourself and to the world around you? If you see yourself as an accident, a victim or a wandering lost soul without a purpose - then your life will fall apart. Even if you go to church, you may miss most of what Jesus says because you don't believe it applies to you. God's point to us is that we are called to define ourselves in light of who He is. He is the Great King and we are called to be his children. Not his subjects. Keep that in mind.

He has created us and he has redeemed us with the most precious thing possible: the life of His only son was sacrificed for us. That, by itself, speaks of both our peril before Him, in a lost-sinful state, yet it also speaks of our glorious state of blessing as believers and followers of Jesus. Peril for those who reject Christ – because it took God's best to redeem us. It was no trivial thing. Blessing for those who receive Christ – for we are adopted.

He has given us His best
Through the Gospel, God is saying that it took no less than the sacrifice of Jesus, but also that he values us enough to sacrifice His best. As believers in Christ, we are His treasures, His prize possessions. He tells us we are “adopted”. In Romans 8:15 it says “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." and Ephesians 1:5 “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...”

So, this “adoption” that is spoken of refers to the Roman tradition where a wealthy elderly Roman, with no heirs (or unworthy heirs) would choose a worthy person to “adopt”. That person would be given all of the rights of being a “first born” son. The Roman Statesman would pass on his name, his signet ring, his entire estate (including any titles and lands), and all of this would be passed over to this adopted son with his “mantle” - a cape which was similar to a coat of arms or family crest. This gave the new son full rights to handle all matters of the family estate, with the full authority as if he were the first born son of that Roman. This is the meaning of “Adoption of Sonship”. All that authority was granted by the father, by grace to the recipient. There are stories of this new identity being granted to slaves whom the master admired or loved. 

This is what has been granted to us, to men and women who are in Christ: the dignity of being accepted by the Great King, God our father and the authority of his son's privileged position. So, he gives us his name (as our father) which grants us authority, dignity and inheritance. Most of us have no concept of what this means. But, it is our identity - even if we do not know it. See Revelation 22:4 and also John 1:12.

What an awesome thought! 

As it says in 1 John 3:1 "...See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!..."  The Holy Spirit, who inspired the words of the Bible, is saying through the Apostle John HEY Y'ALL, CHECK IT OUT!! GOD CALLS US HIS KIDS!! AIN'T THAT AWESOME??? (my paraphrase). Begin to see God as your Father, the Great King of the universe as loving you like His very own, and you may begin to understand that your identity is awesome, not fearsome. It's blessed, not cursed. You have a purpose, a call, a life that matters - because He declares it so.