Hidden In Christ
Lord, who am I?
In a society obsessed with self-identity, we often ascribe who we are to what we see. To some, it may be career and status; to others, it may be past hurt and what other people say we are. For the secular world, identity is anything you want it to be, but for the believer, identity is what God has called it to be. (Mark 8:34-35)
One of the biggest targets of the enemy is our identity.
It took centuries for the Israelites to walk in their identity as God’s people. Throughout the Old Testament, we read how God isolates this nation as his own, establishing culture and traditions and instituting a system of government for Israel. Israel was to be a nation that would not walk in wickedness, like the nations around them, but instead represent a holy and righteous God.
Despite God making it clear who they were, Israel had an identity problem. An issue we find within the Israelites is that whenever a situation seemed impossible, they often advocated returning to Egypt (Numbers 14:4, Exo 14:12).
Though the Israelites had left the desert, they were still clutching onto their identity as slaves. God had to constantly remind them that they were his and he was their God. Similarly, though some of us may have left that situation, we still clutch onto the identity found in the trauma. God sees us greater than how we see ourselves. He says that we are his own, the works of his hands, the apple of his eye. (Zech 2:8)
It’s only when we give our lives to Christ that we begin to walk in our true identity as children of God (Jn 1:12). A child of God is the most significant identity anyone could hold, yet it wasn’t something earned, but a title purchased for us, signed in Christ’s blood. To be a child of God not only means we have an inheritance (Romans 8:17), but it also means we have the right to call out “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and boldly come before God’s throne for anything (Hebrews 4:16).
To truly walk in this identity, we need to be willing not to clutch so tightly onto who we think we are, completely abandoning self and instead putting on Christ. For “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me” – Gal 2:20. When people see us, they should see Christ. They should see his humility, his patience, his love, as we imitate him in all things (Eph 5:1).
“For you have died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God” - Colossians 3:3
If our identities are hidden with Christ, then, like the prodigal son, for us to find ourselves, we must first find him. The more of Jesus we discover, the greater the clarity we obtain in what God has for us individually as his children. This is because it is easier to discern the voice of God and his instruction over our lives when we’re familiar with his Word. God’s voice may not always be audible, but he’s always speaking (Job 33:14-18). Drawing closer to God through Christ results in an increased awareness of the presence of God and the thoughts of the Holy Spirit within us (1 Cor 2:11).
