Our Identity in Christ (Part II)

Understanding who we are from God's point of view has great power to change the way we view our lives in this world.  In Ephesians 1:3, we read that  God has "blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."   The idea here is that everything that God has promised  in the Bible is now ours when we believe in the person of Lord Jesus Christ.  This not only includes everything Christ accomplished on the cross for our salvation, but also the glorious future God has promised for resurrection and eternity. 

When we understand that our position in Christ before God is secure and our future is glorious, it will impact the way we see ourselves in this world.  Because we are a people with great purpose and great hope, we can live joyfully in this life, despite living in a world of evil, injustice and great upheaval.  It is for that reason Jesus promised, "in Me you may have peace, in the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)

A person who is confused about their identity,  will try to find it elsewhere.  Whether it be material things and money, pleasure,  accomplisments, a relationship or even religion itself, a person who is confused about their identity will try to find it in those things.    When we are in Christ,  we learn to hold on to things loosely, knowing that our true worth and purpose is to be found in God alone.

While we may enjoy our accomplisments, our pleasures or the material possessions we have in this world, we hold on to them loosely because we see them as temporary and as  gifts from God.  And when we see the things of this world as gifts,  we learn to worship God as the Giver instead of being disgruntled by what we have or do not have.    

For that reason, the Apostle Paul praised or blessed as he began his letter to the Ephesian church, ""blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...  to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved."  (Eph 1:3, 6)   So let us see ourselves as belonging to God because of Jesus and make Him our identity.  When we do that, then no matter how this world disappointments us, we have a hope that will endure for eternity.