Identity in Christ

I Peter 2:9-10 NKJV "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."

Dear Heavenly Father,

I spend my life longing for identity. In the 60's, people searched far and wide to "find themselves." They discovered that the pursuit of self-definition is futile apart from relationship. The only way that I can know who I am, is to know who I am in You. Saint Augustine said, "We were made for thee, and we cannot rest until we rest in thee."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: "To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to make something of oneself (a sinner, a penitent, or a saint) on the basis one some method or other, but to be a person--not a type of person, but the person that Christ creates in us" (from A Testament to Freedom, 508-509).

Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. They lost not only their innocence and holiness, but also something of their identity. Bill Ury says that they lost their lungs the day they sinned in Eden, and could no longer breathe the life of God. The entire human record of history since Eden is a story of desperation and longing for identity. 

We desperately seek to define our existence in everything except You.  All of the while, You long to give us life.  Bill Ury says “God wants to give us his life by breathing the Spirit of Christ into us.”  You want us to be people with lungs, breathing in the Holy Spirit, and breathing out perfect love. You want us to be people who know who we are, because we know You.

I want to live in an intimate relationship with You, in which I find my identity in You, to the point that others identify me as belonging to You. I want to be recognizable as Yours.

I have attended conferences where I must wear a badge. The badge grants me access. It identifies me as a member of the conference. It might even secure a first name greeting from the barista at Starbucks! 

Dennis Kinlaw asked: “How is it possible for one to identify with God in such a way that one can share in the fellowship of the Trinity without actually becoming God?”  He says that in ISLAM, no fellowship is possible with God.  He repudiates relationship with us.  In Eastern Religions, Hindu, and New Age, people become god.  In TRUTH, God’s otherness is never lost, yet we may have relationship and fellowship with You.  “Our fellowship with God makes us more truly human than we have ever been before.”  

That's what I want! That's what I need! That is the need of all of humanity, to be "more truly human than we have ever been before." Certainly, that is what it means to have identity in Christ, to find oneself, to become a whole person.  

Lord, You have me on the path to wholeness and identity in You. Heaven will culminate this journey. Seeing You face to face and knowing as I am known will be secured in Your eternal reality. 

The Apostle Peter said of the Church of Jesus Christ, "Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God” (Peter 2:10a). Help me to become everything You intend me to be. Help me to embrace this journey as a part of something larger than myself, Your Church.

In the Name of the One who is the Source of my life, my identity, and my belonging, Jesus Christ,

Amen.