The Most Pervasive Form of Identity Theft

Millions of people in the world have committed a serious form of identity theft. An equal number of people have been victimized, but in this case the victim and the perpetrator are always the same person.

Who are these people?

They are Christians–believers in Christ who, at least every now and then, trade in their true identity for an assumed name. We can do this any number of ways. We can define ourselves

• by our past failures (I am an adulterer)
• by the past abuses we have suffered (I am an abuse victim)
• by the roles we fill in life (I am a mother, I am a follower)
• by our personalities (I am timid)
• by our groups (I am an American, I am black, I am a democrat)
• by our failures or successes
• by our careers or ministries
• by our recurring temptations or sins (I am a homosexual, I am greedy, I am a gossip)

While answers from all of these categories can be true, they are not appropriate answers for a child of God to give to the question Who am I?

So what’s the big deal? Why does it matter how we define ourselves?

Trace some of the ripple effects with me.

When we define ourselves by our successes or failures (either morally or in life achievements) we will end up placing ourselves in the role of savior. We seek to justify ourselves–I am (un)worthy because I did or did not ______. Savior is Jesus’ role, and as soon as we start to fill that spot with anything other than him, our thoughts and motives and actions will begin to go astray.

When we define ourselves by our groups we end up with racism, classism, nationalism, political strife, etc. But most of us were part of the alienated group (Gentiles) until we were brought near and welcomed in Christ–so we should be able to welcome other people.

When we define ourselves by the sin(s) committed against us we open the door to bitterness and shame. But in Christ we are forgiven, and so we can forgive others and choose to remember their sins no more.

When we define ourselves by our temptations or sins we can put ourselves in danger of excusing sin, despairing over it, or seeking to conquer it in our own strength. All of these responses deny the victory Christ has secured for us and the hope Paul offers us in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Our self-identity theft short-circuits the sanctification, peace, and joy that God has for us, and it belittles Christ by tossing aside the identity he labored and suffered to secure for us.

Hold your identity in Christ near. It is precious.

The Blessed Agony of a Ripped Altar

Is it painful to follow Christ? Yes.

And why wouldn’t it be? After all, following Christ is soul surgery. Your hopes, dreams, loves, and fears are all remade–not in one fell swoop but in a series of incisions, some small and others large.

I haven’t worked on my novel in two months. Right now, I’m not sure if I’ll ever work on one again. I’ve struggled with doubt as a result, and it’s been painful to have such a key component of my life and my identity taken away.

But it is grace for God to demand sacrifices like that, for him to rip up our paper altars. He is not a vain God who just can’t stand to see us worship other things. He is a loving God who satisfies more thoroughly in reality than our worldly pleasures satisfy us in our dreams.(tweet this)

God wants what is best for us, and he is what is best.