Who Are You?

The following blog I wrote in reflection the evening after attending a workshop called "How the Gospel Changes Obedience", led by a man named Bill Tell at my latest EDGE Summit in Colorado Springs.

"What do you do?"

That is the question that many people (including myself) ask someone in small talk when they want to know him or her better. In America today, we base a lot of our identity by what we do. Usually in the case of ministering to college students I ask them, "What is your major?"

We in society then base who that person is by what kind of career they have. If they are a businessman in a fortune 500 company then they must be really important. If they're a janitor or someone who works the night shift at a retail store stocking shelves, then they must be a lowlife druggie or something.

At times some of us may even say, "Here's my card..." On it it says our business position, company name and contact information, making us look much more official.

We even do this in the context of Christianity: "I'm a pastor, a missionary, an evangelist, a theologian, an apologist, a Navigator, etc."

In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul immediately began by telling these people who they were in Jesus:

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:5-10)

Why did he do this? BECAUSE IT WAS IMPORTANT!

As Christians, this mindset of letting what we do define who we are is not the mindset we should have at all! In Jesus Christ, our new life starts with a new identity being given to us, not by what we've earned, but just because of His grace and mercy. Therefore, we will never be defined in God's eyes by what we do. He doesn't see me as a campus missionary working for The Navigators in the EDGE Corps program. He sees me as HIS SON!

No matter what I do, what career I have, I will always be known in God's eyes as His son. There is no good thing I can do that will make Him love me more, nor is there any bad thing I can do that will make Him love me less.

There is nothing I can do to get God closer to me. I could fast for 40 days, read the Bible countless times all the way through, and spend hours on end in prayer, and it will not get God any closer to me. Now these things are amazing and as a Christian should not be forsaken, but I have unlimited access to God, not because of how much time I spend with Him, but because of His Son dying on a cross to pay the price for my sins. Because of that, I can freely come to Him as I am.

This therefore makes things like giving generously, praying, reading the Bible, and loving your neighbor not duties that I should perform to become "a better Christian", but instead they are privileges that I now naturally want to do because God's power has made me a new person in Christ Jesus.

So in conclusion...WE ARE WHO WE ARE NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT WE DO, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT GOD DID IN US! We therefore will naturally live according to our new identity in Christ Jesus.