Identity in Christ Is Given, Not Earned

Who are you? What makes you, you? How would you describe yourself? Is it your job? Your relationships? Maybe something more internal, how you feel about yourself, or your gender or sexual preference. Whatever came up first in your mind is probably what you’ve built your identity on. Today we’re asking, who gets to decide who you are? And for the Christian, what does it mean to have our identity in Christ?

If you’d rather listen or watch this one, you can catch the full message on the Lead Biblically Podcast or watch it on YouTube.

What Titus 3 Says About Identity in Christ

Paul wrote a letter to a young pastor named Titus, and chapter three has the clearest picture of identity I know of in Scripture. He starts with the bad news. “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures” (Titus 3:3). Notice he says we. Paul’s not talking down to anyone. He’s including himself.

Then he turns it. God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5). We didn’t earn that. Through Jesus we “become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7). Heirs don’t earn an inheritance. It gets handed to them. That’s identity in Christ. Given, not gained. Inherited, not earned.

Why Culture’s Version of Identity Never Satisfies

Our culture tells a different story. Find yourself. Express yourself. Let the world affirm whatever you find. I get why that sounds good. But if you’re the only one responsible for building and defending who you are, you’ll wear yourself out trying to hold it together.

In our modern era, this becomes very apparent in the conversations around gender and sexuality. Statistics Canada found that 27 percent of 2SLGBTQ+ youth met the criteria for a major depressive episode in the past year, compared to 11 percent of their peers. There’s a disconnect in what these teens perceive will give them the identity they crave; that it actually further isolates them. The ongoing pursuit for more fringe identity is leading to a deeper longing to belong.

Living Free in Your Identity in Christ

Paul provides related instruction to the Colossians that we’ve “put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:9-10). You don’t have to keep proving yourself because you already belong to him.

Join the Conversation; Answer This Question

• Where have you been chasing status first, hoping identity and acceptance would follow?