Understanding our identity in Christ is one of the key foundational truths in our walk with God, but our identity develops in new dimensions as we grow in our relationship with the Lord!
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15
having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6
The scriptures tell us that when we accept Jesus’ work on the cross, God wipes away our sins and accepts us into his fold. At one time, we were orphans, but now we are children of God. Being adopted as a child of God seems to be a simple idea, but sometimes it takes a lifetime for us to get a good grasp of this truth and allow it to sink into our spirit and soul. This truth not only sets us free from fear, but it also allows us to believe God’s promises for our future and His purpose for our lives.
When we begin to live as a child of God, the Lord starts to develop new identities in us. Some of the identities are temporary and some of them become life-long assignments. Moses’ identity changed a few times. He was a Jew but he grew up in Pharaoh’s palace in the presence of Egyptian royalty. When he was grown, he left that life behind because he knew that was not part of his true identity. He murdered an Egyptian to protect a Hebrew, but that caused him to run to desert and flee from being captured by Pharaoh. He must have felt that his burden for his brethren was a fleshly and dangerous zeal! However, God had a plan for that burden!
Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” Exodus 2:21-22
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Exodus 3:1
Moses tried to put his bad experience behind, and in the process he let go of his true identity. He married Zipporah’s daughter and became a father and a shepherd taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep until God met him in the desert at the burning bush. While he seemed content with his life, God was not finished with him and the Lord was about to change his identity forever.
Sometimes we don’t see the fruit of the burden God placed on our hearts. We become disappointed and disillusioned with what we thought to be true. This leads us to give up on the dream and our true identity, and we find something else to do. The good news is that God knows where to find us when it is time for us to step into the new identity and the role He has for us.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
