“…And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…” Ephesians 1:13 NIV (read more)
This was the Scripture that greeted me this morning. Thank you Holy Spirit.
Yesterday I came across an old journal entry that I would never want my kids or grand kids to ever find or read. It articulated fairly clearly how messed up my identity crisis had really become. It was real and raw and authentic… but completely wrong. It revealed how thoroughly I had believed the enemies lies.
I spent yesterday wondering how much of my sense of identity is still more inspired out of the pit of hell rather than the heart of God. I didn’t have much hope for the latter.
And then the Scripture. Can we read it again?
You Are INCLUDED In Christ! I Am Included IN CHRIST!
So what is our identity in Christ?
I’m so glad you asked. That was the first thing I asked as well. Great minds think alike I guess. I looked it up and found this helpful graphic:
Those last few points were very eye-opening for me.
“You are declared righteous by God.” You are not a sinner. Because God says so.
“Your identity comes from what God has done for you and what God says about you.”
“Your belief about yourself determines your behavior.”
So ask yourself, will I continue to believe the enemies lies? Or will I believe God?
Someone has highly recommended the theologian Dr. C. Baxter Kruger. So yesterday I looked him up for the first time. I watched this very insightful video:
Daniel Lovett 