Identity In Christ
An Unexpected Encounter at the Airport
A couple of years ago, I walked through an airport with my family. As we rode the moving walkway, I noticed a guy walk by with a wolf’s head. Like the head of a costume. I thought this strange, but kept walking. When we loaded the plane, I see this guy in the center aisle with an extra seat for the head. I looked at my daughter and whispered, “Wow, he is a dedicated mascot to travel with his costume like that.”
My daughter gave me the ‘shut your mouth, mom’ look and we kept walking to our seat. When we sat, she looked at me, somewhat laughing at my ignorance mixed with annoyance, and said, “Mom, he is not a mascot, he is a furry.” Working in the schools, I had heard of furries. For those of you that don’t know what this is, it’s someone who identifies as an animal. This young man identified as a wolf.
You know, it’s one thing to know of situations, and another to witness it. I looked at that young man and my heart broke. Working in the school, I had learned more than I ever wanted to about what people choose to identify as. Each time I learned of these new ways of identification, my heart broke even further.
Losing Our Identity
While studying for Exodus, one commentator mentioned that as Israel became slaves to Egypt, they lost their identity. When anyone becomes a slave of any kind, they lose their identity. When girls are taken into sex trafficking, they lose their identity. In difficult times in our lives, we often lose our identity. Sometime we find our identity in our jobs and then feel lost when we lose our jobs. One of the most profound things my Lyme doctor ever said to me was, “You are not Lyme Disease. You are still a beautiful person who just so happens to have Lyme Disease.” Those words brought freedom in ways my doctor will never know.
The Israelites had moved to Egypt because of a famine. If they did not move, they would have starved to death. God made a way and off they went to Egypt. Four hundred years later, a new Pharoah came to power and decided they were too numerous and used them as slaves. As they moved into enslavement, they lost their identity as the people of the covenant and became people of slavery.
God’s Invitation to Find Freedom
But God did not leave them there. God raised up Moses. A man He would use to set His people free. God did not only get them out of Egypt, but He brought them home to the promised land. Hear me when I say, “God sees you.” If you feel stuck in sin, in shame, in illness or pain, God sees you. When you are wandering in your own wilderness, God sees you. He is reaching His hand for you, inviting you to come home.
When we find ourselves in sin, oppressed by someone or something else, we can easily lose our identity. Jesus desires for us to find our identity in Him. Paul tells us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT) There is freedom when we belong to Christ.
I believe there’s an innate need within each of us to identify with something. I believe God gave us that desire, so we will seek Him. Even the world tells us we are to identify with something. However, the world teaches us we should seek something else. Just making a doctor’s appointment last night, I was asked what I identify as.
An Invitation From Jesus
For every person who has questioned your purpose or what you were made for, I want to tell you Jesus is offering a beautiful invitation to you. Jesus left His throne to come and rescue you. He was beaten and hung on a cross for you. Whether you ever accept Him or not, He still did it for you.
“Since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory” Romans 8:17, NLT
When we can look to Jesus and see the love He has for us and accept Him as our savior, we will find freedom in ways we can never understand. When we take His hand and walk with Him, we will see ourselves in ways we never thought possible. The enemy may come in and begin repeating the lies to try to make us believe we don’t belong to Jesus, but hold tight, Jesus has you.
In Christ, your sins are forgiven and you can walk as a prince or princess, because you are a child of the King.
He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins
Colossians 1:13–14 NLT
Learn more about our study on Exodus
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