Photo by Bobby Johnson on Unsplash
This week, I was reminded once again, of how important my understanding of my identity in Christ is in so many places and relationships.
For one thing, it is basic to my ability to relate to everyone in a godly way, In Christ, I am loved, adopted, forgiven. I bear the image of GOD. I have innate gifts and spiritual gifts. I have my own unique story and family of origin. I have a purpose (to glorify GOD and enjoy Him forever) and I have a name. So do you, if you are in Christ too.
So, here are the encouraging passages that go with these claims. They help fill in the picture too.
Meditate on the truths of these words from GOD’s Word
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood,the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.Ephesians 1:3-10 ESV
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27 ESV
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:
if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal;
the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:3, 4-8 ESV
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12-14 ESV
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.Romans 8:26-29 ESV
I am loved, adopted, forgiven. I bear the image of GOD. I have innate gifts and spiritual gifts. I have my own unique story and family of origin. I have a purpose (to glorify GOD and enjoy Him forever) and I have a name. So do you, if… Share on X
As I think about how my identity in Christ affects my relationships, it challenges me.
I don’t have to be intimidated by that super talented person, or the one with gifts I don’t have, because I am secure in my identity in Christ.
I don’t have to feel dumb if my husband or friend says something that makes me feel put down…even if they meant to!
Because I’m secure in Christ! All my needs for significance and security are met in Him. In Him I am safe and forgiven. I don’t need to prove myself to anyone.
As you can tell, some of these passages overlap in their content, but they contain much of the truth in the highlighted sentence. It is a reminder that has been super underlined from a study I have been in over the past 6 weeks. I’m learning again how basic our grasp of our standing in Christ is to relationships around
Christ accepts me: the good, ad and the ugly. This is also true of my acceptance of Him! He doesn’t have an ugly side of course, but there are aspects of being a Christian in the now, that aren’t attractive sometimes.
It is impossible for me to feel insecure in a relationship with someone I would normally feel intimidated by, if I did not truly understand that I have been accepted by GOD at a very basic level. That is doubly true if I have a story that would indicate to me that I was “less than” others around me.
Maybe I was told as a child that I was worthless, or I am from a race that is looked down on, or I am all too aware of sin in my life that I know would not make me acceptable in polite society if it were known. Whatever the reason, I may have some good reasons to feel intimidated by some of the people in my life. But if I am “in Christ”, my sin is completely forgiven. I am completely loved and accepted by Him.
Learning new information doesn’t bring immediate change, as I said. But GOD uses the new information we learn and works it into our hearts…especially if it is GOD’s Word.
Obviously, just reading this set of verses is not going to change me by itself. But taking it into my soul will eventually change me as I memorize them and interact with them. I believe them because they are from God’s Word! It will need to go from being simply intellectual information to being something that is part of my heart and emotions. This allows Him to work these new truths into my life and bring about the change He needs to make in me. It is definitely a process.
Make a point to work on these verses. Some may be more needed than others. I don’t expect you to memorize every verse I give you. You know how every Biblical verse I give is not exactly what you need. But these are chock full of help for your mind. Choose those that you know you need. I’ll try to get a printed version ready for you as well to click on below. This is a nice group of verses.
**THEY ARE NOW AVAIABLE. CLICK BELOW! They will be connected to a subscribe form, but if you are already subscribed, you can just keep going through the subscribe process and you will get to the download process for the verses. If you have any problems getting them, let me know in the comments.
