April 12
What's Up With Our Identity in Christ?
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. ~André Gide, 1869-1951, French writer, Nobel 1947
This world is already tough as it is, going through the day we lose ourselves through the process.
Life is quite difficult, right friend?
I mean every person has a set of determined attributes that make us who we are.
That makeup is our identity.
Why is that important though?
What does identity mean?
The definition according to Wikipedia, identity is defined as:
“Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or group.”
Finding your identity. It’s what separates you from everyone else and it’s an ongoing process.
What is self-worth?
As Psychcentral likes to put it, Self-worth is necessary and needed for self-acceptance and self-love. This feeling of self-worth makes it difficult to feel worthy of love or acceptance from others.
Now, before you cut me out and say, “PRISCA!!!!! Baby girl, I know myself, and I don’t need anyone to tell me who I am! I know everything about me! I am this and that, and blah, blah,
blah…”
Well, friend,
Just hear me out for a moment and you might learn something new, especially God’s view of you! Just in case you didn’t know already. To those of you who do, this is a good reminder! See, friend, learning who we are is a lifelong experience starting in our teen years. As teens, we grapple with the hard questions as they cascade into: Who am I? Why am I here, God, what's my purpose in this life? These questions shape how we see ourselves and how we are perceived by others.
Questions That Arise About Your Inner-Self From Within:
Do I love myself? Or wait. What does love mean? Hehe jkjk! But no, seriously.
How do you value yourself in your mind’s eye?
Do you think positively or negatively of yourself or somewhere in between?
Does being felt love and respect sound scary or impossible to and for you?
These questions can shed light to reflect on who we are. Now positivity is awesome but getting there when you’re not at your optimal best is tough for the most part. But there’s got to be something more than that. Is what appears to be all that we are? Is there something more?
With those of us who are partying, drinking, and struggling mentally, Literally, this world isn’t giving us what we are hoping for does it? Nothing is filling that void you are trying to fill and forget. Do we push past the boundaries of how much can we get away with?
God sees you through that.
Bros and Sisses,
Who Christ is, and what he's done for you, how he can be your self-worth as apparently, “He thought you were to die for!” 🥰 Here are some pretty encouraging verses that can equip you next time you feel less than, unqualified, or unworthy:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it.
God’s View About You Versus.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
We shouldn’t take people’s opinions, cut our hearts and fall into a downward spiral of negative self-worth or self-talk. However, we must cultivate a healthy view of ourselves, in whom our true identity is.
You are Adopted into a heavenly family
Ephesians 1:5 ESV
He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
You are still his
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You cause him to rejoice over you
he Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
You are still his when you mess up over again and live in a cycle of sin in which he is ready to break through for you.
You are loved when you can’t even love yourself and feel like nobody else does either.
You were paid with a price and that was his death on the cross.
You are seen as a delighted son and daughter of his! The Lord finds delight in you!
Yep, that’s right, The Lord Jesus loves you sooooo much that he DIED for you! For your sins and ALL of them! I would like to take a moment if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, or if you are and feel distant toward him. Repent of the sins that separates you and him and give your life to him today! He loves you too much to die without him. His death on the cross was not for nothing. Remember. He. DIED. For. YOU! So I encourage you to give your life to Christ. Confess your sins to him. He is ready and willing to forgive all your sins.
I mean, come on, no one in your lifetime is going to do that for you. Our human love is no rival to the Love of God. No one will EVER love you as much as Jesus does. It took me so long to realize this. I know now.
I hope you do too.
Signing off,
Prisca
“Folks can change their ways much as they want to. But I don’t care how many times you change your ways, what’s in you is in you, and it’s got to come out.” - James Baldwin
What's Up With Our Identity In Christ?
Who am I? Who is Christ in me? What's my identity?