Friday Fight 209: Identity Check

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF209.

When we think of the word identity what types of things come to mind? Some may consider identity to be tied to things like our last name, career, placement within our family, or a unique attribute. Others may envision a credit score showing a list of punctual payments and low debt, or sadly, they may think of past struggles and trauma. What defines our identity, and at what cost can it be manipulated?

Identity Check:

Let’s look at what ties some of us to our perceived identities. It likely resembles something unchangeable, like a last name or birth position in our family, a middle child or only daughter. These things can certainly contribute, but families expand, and life changes when looking at names or even a birth position.

It may be time for an identity check. Let’s examine other things that people unknowingly use to create their individuality. Lifelong friendships are incredible and a huge blessing until the friendship ends due to conflict. We lose part of ourselves when what defines us is unexpectedly removed. Perhaps we no longer understand where we fit when those around us change and chaos fills our lives. This does not happen with God. When we know the power of the Trinity and that Satan cannot separate us from our Creator, we have peace and we can rest in this peace. Our belonging to God will never change, ever! We can find our stability knowing we fit perfectly in the body of Christ, a position that will forever belong to us.

This week is the perfect time to reflect on where we find our purpose and reflect on the root of our identity. Are we allowing things not of God to shape our identity? Or are we leaning into the truth and stability that God has and will always provide? If we allow things not of God to create our identity, it can be life-shattering when those unstable factors change. We cannot let darkness bind us to our sins when Christ gave His life so that we could be free from our sin and shame. We are not defined by any statistic or category that the enemy of our soul uses to manipulate our identity.

As Christians, our identity comes from Christ alone. With God, we have purpose because he has a plan for each of our lives. We are identified by Him and can only surrender if we know whose we are and whom we serve. When we embrace Christ and welcome Him into our lives, every characteristic of Him covers whatever false identity we have of ourselves. We belong to a new spiritual family, the body of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 means our core identity is now rooted in Jesus: loved, forgiven, redeemed, and chosen - the foundations of an entirely new identity!

Let Christ alone determine our identity. Remember, darkness knows all our names but calls us by our sins, yet God knows all our sins but calls us by our names.

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Photo Credit: Michele LaSala

Pastor Shannon

River Church