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I Know You Are, But What Am I?



How important is your identity?  Why does it matter, who you think you are? I believe your identity impacts everything around you.  The way of engage people in conversation, the way you treat people, the kinds of relationships you develop, even what or who you worship, is greatly impacted on our identity or our lack of one.  Our identity affects the everyday choices we make as well.  Ultimately, even our successes and failures are viewed through the lenses of our own identity.

"Right after "Raymond" I had a world-is-my oyster attitude, but I found out I don't like oysters. I had this existential emptiness.  What is my purpose? Who am I? I had a big identity crisis." Ray Romano of "Everybody Loves Raymond"

As a believer in Christ, my identity is crucial to my purpose and destiny in life.  I believe Satan was aware of that long before I even I cared.  It definitely explains why he attacks our identity with such tenacity.  He even had the nerve to challenge the identity of Jesus Christ!

"If you are the Son of God...tell these stones to become bread...throw yourself down..." Matthew 4

Thank about this for a moment, if Satan had the nerve to question the identity of Jesus, knowing full well who Jesus was, why wouldn't he attack our identity as well?  We are so much more than meets the eye, much more than who we think we are.  Not because we are so awesome, but because our identity is hidden in Christ.

In Ephesians, Paul proclaims that we should praise God for what he has given us!  God has "blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3) In Christ, we have eternal blessings, everlasting blessings that can not be earned or stolen from us.  In Christ, we are chosen, predestined, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, purposed, promised, inherited and dare I say it, LOVED BY GOD!  And in all these gifts, God provides for us lavishly.  Lavishly, meaning from his embarrassment of riches, his great abundance of power and love, not from his leftovers or as some afterthought. God has given us his absolute best, on purpose, in Christ Jesus.  When I let that sink in and realize how that impacts my identity, why would I not want to praise God?  We have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ.  There's nothing that we need that God does not supply in lavish abundance!  That's not just wishful thinking, folks.  That's our inheritance.  That is who we are in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-14

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