And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus … — Ephesians 2:6
Discovering our deepest identity is as simple as opening the Bible. Experiencing it, however, requires a miracle from God.
The real you – the you conceived by God and redeemed by the blood of Christ – lives all of life from a position of strength. The real you is beyond safe – you’re indestructible, designed to live forever. The powers of darkness move out of the way for the real you. Sin has no appeal to the real you, because you already have something far better than anything sin can offer. The real you doesn’t need to inquire, "What would Jesus do?" because His desires are your desires, you want what He wants.
It’s no coincidence that the Bible tells us that we are transformed by "the renewing of our minds." Our minds need to be renewed for us to comprehend who we really are, because our experience has led us to believe something else.
This is why the process of Christian growth takes us through all three identities. We become a Christian and want to behave correctly (our first identity – how we appear to others). But something is getting in the way and making it difficult (our second identity – from the fallen world). As we explore what is getting in the way and hold it up to Jesus, He exposes it as a lie, and replaces it with the truth of who we really are (our third identity – the one given us by God).
Years ago people talked about "finding themselves." The phrase became a cliché, almost a joke. But it is a good description of the Christian life. God wants us to find ourselves, our true selves, and, as we do, we will be delighted with what we discover.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.