Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake: Jehovah was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire: Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire, a soft gentle voice. (1Kings 19:11-12)

Monday, September 30, 2013

31 Days: Who Am I? {When you Have an Identity Crisis? Look to your Identity IN CHRIST -- Who is the I AM}



Faced with a trial, or a troubling, traumatic experience that has left you wondering who in the world you are?

Do doubts of your identity rise so high you're gasping for a breath of fresh air rich in pure grace?

Maybe the mundane slowly seeps the meaning and purpose out of your very existence?

Are you running this hamster wheel of life and failing to live in the victory of the race already won?

Perhaps its your past or present that pushes you to perform, but you can't keep up this pace any longer?

Have you've been hurt by some mean girl and who ever said that names will never hurt you?


Could it be you're living an ideal, but its leaving you insecure 'cause who can keep up to all the comparing and illusions of perfection?

Maybe it's the pain of a broken family that aches so deep at times you can only limp along this road that so many others have already travelled. It doesn't matter what age you experience this pain it will rock your world and threaten to shatter your identity. Leave you in a crisis that only Christ can cure.

When your family line has been marked with generational sin, {and really isn't that the family tree we all shoot from} you need a marvellous, astounding, amazing grace.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind  
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christby grace you have been saved  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus"{Ephesians 2:1-6, emphasis added}

By grace you have been saved. 

A grace that sent a perfect Son to become sin and a curse for us by hanging on a tree, that God could transplant you from a race rooted in sin to establish you rooted in Christ

"You aren’t what’s been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren’t what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do.’ (Mark Driscoll, 'Who Do You Think You Are?')


This identity of being in Christ is our life, our hope, our destiny, our future.

It's time to refuse to find our identity in what we do or don't do, or what we accomplish or fail to accomplish, the names we've been called, the lies we've believed, or who others think we should be, but to live abundantly the life that we have been called to live in Christ to the praise of His glory

There's a reason the words 'in Christ', or its variations, such as 'in Him' and 'in the Lord' are mentioned over 200 times* in the New Testament.

We need repeated reminders of who we are in the I AM. 


Will you join me in October for 31 Days to remember who we are In Christ?




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Linking here with The Nester and so many other brave bloggers who are writing for 31 Days.






*Mark Driscoll, "Who do You Think You Are?"

4 comments:

  1. I was reading in Ephesians 2 this morning - "by grace" ... truly precious and humbling - what He has saved us from and what He has made us to be.

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  2. This morning I am visiting from Soli Deo Gloria. We so need to know our identity in & through Christ. We all have an identity. May we walk in the identity He has given us so that we do not walk in one that the enemy would seek to put upon us. Great topic for 31 days by the way :)
    Blessings,
    Joanne

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  3. I'm teaching the Gospel of John in my class. One of the things John the Baptist says in Chapter 1 is "I am not the Messiah." This always catches in my throat because how often to do I look to myself instead of the true Messiah to save me? Such a good series -- looking forward to it!

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