Your Identity in Christ
If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, understanding your identity in Christ is so important. If you don’t know who you truly are in Christ, you’ll spend a lot of energy throughout your life trying to become someone that Jesus has already made you into.
See, most of us understand that we must earn our identity out in the world. We have to perform, achieve, and convince people of who we are and how we want to be known.
And because that is true out in the world, it’s easy to think that the same applies to the Christian life. We must show God that we are someone different based on our behavior and actions.
But that’s not the gospel. The gospel isn’t “achieve, strive, and earn,” it’s “receive and be made right by God.”
Paul tells us that when you received God’s grace you became a new creation in Christ and that the old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17). But what is it that is so different about you now?
Well, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are several things Scripture says are true about you if you are in Christ.
IDENTITY IN CHRIST LIST
I AM A CHILD OF GOD
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)
I AM JUSTIFIED AND REDEEMED
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
I AM RIGHTEOUS
17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)
I AM HOLY
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved… (Colossians 3:12)
I AM LOVED
And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
I AM ACCEPTED
To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)
I AM A SAINT
Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. (Philippians. 1:1)
I AM COMPLETELY FORGIVEN
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
I AM DEAD TO SIN
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
(1 Peter 2:24)
I AM A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Do you now know that you are the temple of the God and that the Spirit of god dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
I AM A MEMBER OF CHRIST’S BODY
Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I AM GOD’S WORKMANSHIP
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
I AM A CITIZEN OF HEAVEN
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)
I AM A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
I AM A JOINT HEIR WITH CHRIST
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:16-17)
I AM COMPLETE
And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:10)
Did you know that this is true about you if you are in Christ? This is your identity! This is who you are!
You are not defined by what you do, or what you think about yourself, or by what other people say about you. You are who God says you are!
And when you begin to understand who God has made you into that changes everything. You’ll increasingly live as you really are because you’ll know who you are, and the glory of God will be on display through you!