Finding your identity

Finding your own identity can be hard. Sometimes we try to find it in objects, how much money we have, material things. And it’s so hard that it can feel impossible. Well, that’s because it is.

If you try to put your value and identity in material things, it will just leave you unsatisfied, and wondering if you’re even worth anything. That’s bad. That’s so bad, in fact, that I am now sitting here at 11:30pm writing to tell you that there’s something better. Something so much better, that it’s hard to describe.

In Ephesians, chapters 1 & 2 Paul writes to the church in Ephesus. He tells them so many things about who they are in Christ.

To start off, who am I in Christ?

I am blessed

I am chosen, which means that I am wanted

I am adopted into Christ’s family

I am redeemed by the blood of Christ

I am forgiven

I have obtained an inheritance

I am sealed

I have been given a spirit of wisdom

I am made alive in Christ

I am saved by grace, through faith

I am His workmanship and masterpiece

I am called by Christ

I am a fellow citizen with the saints and a member of the household of God.

I know these things because I know the One and Only God. The Lord of the universe, who created me, created the sky and the stars that I look at each night, and everything around me. The God who sent His only Son to be tortured and killed for me and all of my sin that I have made in the past, in the present, and in the future.

So… Do you know who you are in Christ? If you truly know Him, love Him, and live for Him,

You are blessed.

You are chosen, which means that you are wanted.

You are adopted by Christ, into His family.

You have been redeemed by the blood that Christ spilled for you.

You are forgiven.

You have obtained an inheritance.

You are sealed.

You have been given a spirit of wisdom.

You are made alive in Christ.

You are saved by grace, through your faith in Jesus Christ.

You are His workmanship, His masterpiece, and you are beautiful, even if you feel broken.

You have been called by Christ.

You are a fellow citizen with the saints, and a member of the household of God.

People try to put their identity and worth in money, objects, earthly things. Doing this usually ends in feeling like you’re nothing if you don’t have more. You eventually spend SO much time on trying to get more money, get the newest car, iPhone, computer etc., that you don’t realize that you are missing your happiness. Everything that we accumulate here on earth will end up fading away, because we all die at some point. What then? Well, since you spent all your time trying to gather up earthly things, you probably wouldn’t have taken the time to develop real, raw, and deep relationships with those around you. So what are you left with? To be honest, I don’t know. I would absolutely hate to get to the end of my life, and realize that I didn’t make time for the things that mattered the most, one of, and the most important of which is getting to know the One who created me!

While I’m here on earth, alive and breathing, I want to be sure that I’m storing up treasures in Heaven. Because after all, in the end we’re all going somewhere; either Heaven or Hell, there’s no in between. And whichever place we go to is where we will spend the rest of eternity. That seems a whole lot more important than the relatively short time that we spend on earth. This is why I choose, and encourage you to as well, to work on living this life to its fullest, for Christ and His Kingdom.

In terms of how to get into Heaven, well now that’s something that seems complicated, but really isn’t.

We could never earn our way into heaven. No amount of good we can do in this world, and with our lives is going to get us there.

If we have sinned, we have broken God’s Law (the 10 commandments). Breaking His Law is punishable by death. And if we haven’t been born again into Christ’s family through the blood that He shed, after we die we will go to hell.

But God sent His Only Son, to live among us, work like we did, break a sweat, be tired. He was also tempted in all of the ways that we are tempted because of sin, and the immense weight it has on our world and in our lives. Jesus came for one reason and one reason only. To do the will of His Father.

It was God’s will for Him to suffer and die. Because He knew that the only way we could be with Him in Heaven, was if someone paid the penalty for all of the sin in the world. So Jesus, who hadn’t sinned once, took our sin upon His beaten and bruised shoulders, to pay our debt.

And it is through Christ and the blood that He shed on the cross, that we can be born again, and be in heaven after our earthly bodies die.

All we have to do, is not just tell God we’re sorry for all of our sins, but actually be humble, know what we have done, and be sincere. We must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. Then we must believe that God sent His son and that Christ died for us, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, defeating death. (we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter! Hallelujah!)

We can’t earn God’s love, His mercy, or His grace. It is freely given to us!

I pray that this post was encouraging, and reaffirmed who you are in Christ. (Fell free to share or re-blog this post, if it encouraged you! Maybe there are others out there who need to hear this message this week. :))

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but want to, I hope you’ll talk to a Christian friend or family member about it! And always feel free to talk to me about it either in the comments section, or you can click on my contact page, and we can chat through that fr a more private conversation about it!

I hope you all have a lovely day and week! ❤