Devotion 2 - Our Identity in Christ
Jn.10:10 – “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…”
Since the Garden, our true identities have been stolen and reprogrammed by Satan. Through deceit and lies, he has robbed us of our God-created identity and thus hindered us from reaching our full potential in Christ.
We need a biblical understanding of identity to transform our hearts and renew our minds as we seek to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. A secure and healthy identity in Christ will anchor and guide us through the changing seasons and circumstances of our lives.
Identity Defined – “Who am I?”
Many of us get our identity through external referencing. In other words, we let others define our identity. When we are young, we build our identity from what our parents tell us, our teachers tell us, etc. For that reason, those who suffered verbal abuse since young, tend to grow up with very poor self-image and low self-esteem. When we are teenagers, we usually get our identity from our peers and when we are adults, we get our identity from our career achievements, social and financial status, success, etc, etc. In short, we allowed the outside force to define who we are!
As Christians, our true identity is not so much of ‘who I am’ but ‘whose I am’. Our identity is to be found in our relationship with Christ and not in our positive or negative life experiences. There are several essential components regarding our identity. We will start with the most basic and yet profound question, “Who am I as a Christian or what does it mean to be in Christ?”
“In Christ”, or similar expressions like “in him” or “in the Lord”, are found over 170 times in the New Testament and it simply means being united to Christ. Clearly, this is a very important concept in our Christian life.
“In Adam” vs “In Christ”
1 Cor.15:22 – “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
1 Cor.15:45 – “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
The “last Adam” here is clearly referring to Christ. Thus, through these two verses, we learn that all of humanity is basically represented by two men, Adam and Christ.
In the beginning, God created Adam to be the representative of human race. Hence, as a result, the consequences of his sin fell upon all humanity.
Rom.5:12 – “Therefore, just as through one-man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
We all sinned because we are united to Adam. All humanity suffered the consequence of Adam’s sin. Through our union with Adam, we are all born sinners and thus, we behave like serial sinners, sinning every day in thought, word, deed and motive.
Ps.51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
We are conceived with a sinful nature, because we are “in Adam” and we all come into the world “in Adam”. Paul puts it aptly in Eph.2:1-3
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…”
“In Adam”, we are all spiritually dead, slaves to the world, the devil and our sinful passion, and thus also objects of God’s wrath. And by default, because Adam becomes an orphan, we all suffered an Orphan Spirit.
What does it mean by being “In Christ”?
2 Cor.5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
To be ‘Born again’ means we are born into a new identity, we are a new creation. And to be ‘Baptized into’ means to be ‘joined with’. When we were joined with Christ Jesus, we joined Him in His crucifixion, His death, and His resurrection. In other words, we died to our own identity and we took on His identity. Sadly, many, after the born-again experience, continue to be more conscious and concerned about our worldly identity rather than our spiritual identity. We continue to enjoy our inferior identity rather than be satisfied by our superior identity. Thus, we are always trying to prove our significance rather than walking in obedience.
If our identity issues are not settled, we will always struggle with fully surrendering ourselves to God. When we continue to live out our identity in Adam, we will always live for Love. But if we live out our identity in Christ, we will live from Love!
Identity & Prayer Life
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus demonstrated to them the spirit of sonship, “Our Father in heaven…” (Matt.6:9). Jesus could have used other titles such as Lord, Almighty God, Jehovah, etc, etc. However, He wanted us to know that the Creator God was not only His Father but also “our Father”.