Who You Say I Am

What role in your life defines you? When you meet someone for the first time and they ask you to tell something about yourself, what do you say first? Are you a mother or a father? Do you start off by telling your occupation? Maybe you're a construction worker or a bank manager. Perhaps a bus driver or maybe a waitress. Do you talk about your marital status? Which of your "hats" do you cling to the most? What is your single-most defining characteristic? What title do you allow to define you? What is your identity?

For most of us, there is one defining title that we often forget, yet I would like to suggest that it is our most important identity. For the Christian, the title, role, and station in life as a child of God should be preserved as our core identity! You see, I believe that one of the Enemy's tactics to destroy our life is to destroy our perception of our self. If the Enemy can distract us from God's true purpose and calling on our life, then the Enemy can get us to question our identity. Messages all around us push certain beauty standards, measurements for success, and wealth expectations. These messages are designed to make us discontent with our life. A lifetime of listening to these outside messages can leave one feeling defeated, unworthy, unloved, and broken.

Can you feel the entrapment that this scenario creates? If we never feel "good enough" in an area of our life, we will keep trying to measure up! We'll try one thing after another, only to fail again and again because the Enemy wants to keep us beaten down and defeated. In this way, we become "slaves" to the awful cyclical pattern of trying to define our self based on the wrong standards. We've got the wrong primary identity!

I urge you to examine what identity you are building your life around! Who you are at your core is a chosen child of God! You are loved! God is for you! You are free from the cycle of slavery! You are created with purpose! You have a place designed for you! You are a child of God--period.

Maybe you need to take a minute to read this scripture, listen to this song and ask God to restore your primary identity as God's child! Let the truth that is echoed in this song wash over your heart and ask God to cleanse and heal you from any false identities that have taken root in your life. Find your identity in your status as beloved child of the Most High God!

Galatians 4:4-7

4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.