Episode 69: Remember Your Identity

Created for This with Danielle Roberts

Identity is something that, as I've been learning more about and dwelling on identity in Christ, I've seen how important it is in the way I do everything. It impacts your business, your household, how you are with your friends and more.

Let's dive into scripture.

Galatians 3 - when we put on Christ, we are in Christ. When we become a Christian, it changes everything.

Sanctification - we become more like Christ, we put on his identity. It defines who you are, your purpose and your calling.

As we think about our identity, I'm going to read you some verses that give me an idea of who I am in Christ, because when we take that step to become a Christian, we may not see an immediate change, it may take time, but change happens. The fruits of the Spirit develop over time. I've become more patient since I was a little kid, and I accepted Christ into my life when I was eight. It's through different things and different life experiences.

Romans 1:5-6 says, "Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."

Part of our identity is that we belong to Jesus. We are no longer apart from him, we are a part of him.

We can know that the ways we should live because we can see that in the Bible. We can look at the life of Jesus and see how he handled situations. We know God's purpose for us and his will. If you want to learn more about God's will, you can listen to the two episodes I did with my brother on God's will - those are episodes 48: Knowing God's Will with Ben Reedy and 49: Knowing and Praying God's Will with Ben Reedy.

When we look at God's will, Jesus tells us a few things. He says for us to love God and love our neighbors (Matthew 22:37). That's God's will for us. Out of that, we determine God's calling. Maybe we have a specific calling. My calling is declaring freedom for women. In that, as we learn about this whole idea of sanctification, Romans 6:18 says, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

We have freedom. I don't know if you guys love that as much as I do, or if you've grasped that. I'm still wrapping my head around that. It's our sinful tendencies, even though we are Christians, we still have sin that we struggle with. The ability we have to be free and realize that yes, we still make mistakes, but we are not being punished for that anymore, we've been set free (Romans 8:1 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The ability to using our gifts, being concorors - we have victory over death.

As I've grown in knowing who I am in Christ, I've become more confident. It's easy to be confident in Jesus when you know that it's not yourself that's being condemned. God is seeing Jesus - it's like a sheer overlay of Jesus being seen over me. That confidence helps me as I'm a mother, as I'm a wife, and a business owner.

I don't need to compare myself and my calling to another person because we have different callings. We are walking two separate paths.

Romans 10:9-10 says, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."

Those verses are ones that remind us of what we have done as we become Christians. We've agreed that Jesus is Lord and we decide to serve him. Paul talks about being a servant to the gospel. Part of that servant heart is understanding that that's who we are serving. That's saying that we're serving God. We're no longer serving men.

When I was painting our fence this past weekend, it was very hot out, I didn't want to be doing it, but I knew I needed to serve God and have his attitude as I served him and my family. That is the perspective that I've learned as I've learned more about my identity in Christ.

If you're a new Christian, it takes time. If you're an old Christian it takes time. It's not immediate. If we're moving forward in that place then we are able to grasp everything God has given us. If we're able to live out of our identity and be who he has created us to be, we're able to throw off the sinful binds that hold us back. We're able to live for him and bring him glory.

We see this lived out in our businesses as we move forward in the freedom we have in Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:56-58 says, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

When we are devoting our business to Jesus, when we are living out the freedom from sin, we can be working fully to the Lord and knowing our labor is not in vain. That's never going to be wasted. When we have the values of integrity and servanthood, using Jesus, we know we will be witnesses of Jesus and who he has created us to be.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

We know as Christians that life is not going to be easy. I was sitting in church this weekend and the pastor was talking out of Psalm 34. he was talking about how there was going to be hard times for the righteous people. God knows. He knows it wasn't going to be easy and he gives us the ability to move forward through that. He's with us.

That's the identity I want you guys to remember that identity.

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