What's Your Identity?

Our culture has been slowly and steadily pushing the lines of morality further and further from the standard of the Scriptures.  Men and women are being encouraged to reassess whether they are what they are: men and women.  The question of gender is not the only one on the table: some are deciding to behave, dress, and would like to be recognized by others as dogs.  Our culture is looking for its identity.  They are looking for an unchanging truth which is beyond their control, to which they submit their life.  They are looking for God, even though they claim He does not exist.

Phrases like, “I was born this way,” and, “It’s not a decision, it’s who I am and I can’t change it,” betray the true need: They need to feel a greater power in control of their life but are unwilling to accept or honor God, so they seek out every depraved thing to honor in His stead, degrading themselves in the process (Rom. 1:21ff).

Identity is an important part of Christianity.  Jesus taught, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mk. 8:34).  Later, Paul wrote concerning his own life, saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).  Those who have been baptized into Christ have put Him on (Gal. 3:27) and our identity, who we are, what we hope to accomplish, changes to match the goals and desires of God. 

When Paul wrote about his mission to teach the gospel, he said, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).  Paul explains that in every place and culture, he changed everything about himself except the one thing that mattered: serving Christ and living according to the law of God (1 Cor. 9:21).  His identity, the one thing that could never change, was that he served the living God.  Every custom, every tradition, every mannerism changed if it meant being a more effective tool to spread the gospel.

Everything about a Christian is to be variable except their obedience to the New Testament.  Our identity is found in serving the Lord only.  Everything else is able to shift and change for the sake of spreading the gospel to the lost.