And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Mark 4:13-20
Jesus, His love, and His work on the cross are the foundation of our identity. Now we we partner with Him to allow the new identity to truly take root in our souls and in our lives. This allows us to get grounded in God’s character and His definition of us and has a stabilizing affect in our attitudes and actions.
The stage of identity development is also a place where the enemy comes in and tries to steal, kill, and destroy the seed of life in a believer’s life. The parable of the seeds given by Jesus to his disciples suggests that not everyone who has received the seed of life will be become fruitful.
Comfort in old lifestyle
There are some people who end up having an arrested development in one or more areas of their lives because Satan has deceived them into believing lies or half-truths. It’s possible that they’ve held on to certain comforts as a counterfeit to true spiritual security and contentment. This causes a believer not to be open to change and nor experience much spiritual progress.
Driven to succeed
Another group of people may try to rush through this stage of development. They attend every church activity and get involved in various ministries in order to hurry their spiritual growth. This leads them to believe that they are more mature than they really are, and it develops a shallow/faulty foundation that becomes their Achilles heal. When pressure arises, they can’t admit they need help because their identity is centered around doing. Additionally, they don’t want to show weakness in fear of losing their ministry. This eventually leads them to a fall or walking away from Christ.
Chaos Oriented believers
There are some believers who because of their past experiences are more comfortable with chaotic life than a peaceful life. As a result there is usually an emergency situation going on in their lives that chokes their time, focus, and attention. They continually hope that when things slow down and become saner, they will focus on making God a priority, but that time never comes. They tend to gravitate towards being busy or feeling overwhelmed. These individuals are comfortable being the rescuer and that makes them think that they growing and maturing. However, they are just using their gifting without allowing themselves to get grounded in the word and become stable spiritually.
Conformity for identification sake
Sometimes individuals have such a great desire to belong that they take on conformity to new rules or a new group as an indication of change of identity. While the change maybe for the better, but their identity is tied to someone/some people rather than the Lord. This may grow the person to a certain level, but they eventually will reach a plateau because they are only willing to change so long as their change is approved by others. Sadly, when someone hurts them or lets them down, they are devastated. They may go back to who they were originally because the change wasn’t motivated for the right reasons. They just conformed for a season.
There are no short cuts to developing a strong and real identity. We maybe older, have impressive degrees, or notable positions, but none of those can speed up what only God’s process and timing can do develop in us. We all need to grow and mature if we are serious about our walk with God.
New believers need to be taught that their faithful obedience, character, and consistent walk is more important than anything they can accomplish for God. The foundation that is built on the rock will sustain them for the long haul. When storms and difficulties of life come, they will not cave in under the pressure because they know whom they are and whose they are. This kind of life will produce the fruitfulness that Jesus described and its effect will be eternal!
How is your identity developing?
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