May 30, 2019

I get so many women’s leaders emailing and asking me for information on our Identity in Christ as they want something to teach. It seems to be a popular topic in our women’s ministries, although I fear maybe it’s just another way to drag out the old standby of stroking egos and putting the spotlight on ourselves as women, instead of the spotlight being on Christ.

I’m not sure when all of that started, but I hope we can get past it and get back to teaching things that matter and help other Christian women to grow in their relationships with the Lord. We need to get away from trying to just build egos and self-esteem and get back to esteeming Christ.

If you take a look around, just search “identity in Christ” on Pinterest alone and you will find dozens of things geared for Christian women with lists of Bible verses for our Identity in Christ. If you look at some of those things that are cited on those lists, you will discover that many of the verses do not correlate with what they say they do. Sad to say, I think most are about telling women how special they are.

Here are some examples that I’ve seen:

(I’ve taken these off of various lists that are floating around on the internet on our Identity in Christ)

Example 1

They say: “You are strong” – Psalm 18:35

Buzz! This is what that verse actually says.

Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalm 18:35 (KJV)

I believe that verse is talking about how strong the Lord is. He’s so strong that He is the One holding me up! It’s not about how strong I am. It’s about the strength of the Lord and how He can give us His strength.

We know David wrote this Psalm and when he says, “thy gentleness hath made me great”, we have to look at his life. He started out as a shepherd, a very low man on the society scale. Look what happened, he eventually became a man of valor. He even eventually became king. He acknowledges in this verse that all he ever did he didn’t attribute to himself. He attributed it to God. God is the great One!

I’m not saying we can’t be strong in the Lord and rely on Him. I think of Paul how he said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)   Let’s just tell it like it is though. God is the strong One.

Example 2

They say: “You are important” 1 Peter 2:9

Buzz! This is what that verse actually says. I’ve included verse 10 as well.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (KJV)

That first part of this verse is talking about who we are in Christ. We are part of His family but read on! It’s talking about how now that we have accepted Christ, we need to show forth the praise of the One who brought us out of the darkness! We need to live for Christ. It’s talking about how He is the light. It’s talking about how we can obtain mercy through the Lord.

And if you read on down in that chapter, it’s talking about how we need to abstain from those “fleshly lusts”. Hey! We are human. We have this great God who redeems us with His grace and mercy, but we are still flesh. We are going to war with that flesh every day. Being part of the family of God doesn’t make us immune to that. We have to continually be vigilant.

Are we important to God? Yes, we can see we are because of how far He went to die for us; however, our lives aren’t about how important we are. It’s about what we are doing with our life now that we have obtained that mercy. It’s about how we are living to honor the Lord. It’s about living to glorify Christ.

Example 3

They say: “You are precious” 1 Corinthians 6:20

Buzz! This is what that verse actually says.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV)

This verse is talking about how God paid an enormous price for us by sending His Son to the cross to die. Can we derive that we are precious because He died for us? Yes, but I think that still makes it about Him, not about us. Don’t you? The praise all goes back to the Lord.

This verse is saying that God loved us so much that we need to live for Him. We need to glorify God in our bodies. This verse is reminding us of what Jesus did on the cross, so in other words stop living for yourself! He’s saying your life isn’t your own anymore. If you have accepted that gift, your life belongs to the Lord, so live that way.

We looked in 1 Peter 2:9-10 earlier, but if you look back up in 1 Peter 2:4, we are called “precious”. It’s talking about how we are honorable because Jesus is honorable. He was that stone that was rejected but God made Him head of the church. Therefore, we are honorable too. But as I mentioned earlier, look on through that chapter in 1 Peter and you will again find all those calls to offer your life as a sacrifice and to die to the flesh.

Our identity in Christ always comes back to praising the Lord with how we live.

Yes, I do have a great identity in Christ!

Do I dismiss my identity in Christ? No! I think we as Christians have a wonderful identity in Christ. We are so many things because of the love of Christ. I just think that mistruths and half-truths are being taught on this subject. You can’t teach someone they are a child of the King and not also encourage them to live like it. You can’t teach someone they are precious in the Lord and not remind them of that precious price of the blood Christ shed for them.

I’m so glad of the wonderful things afforded to me because I know Christ. I have Salvation. I am redeemed. I have access to prayer. I have Heaven waiting for me. So many things are wrapped up in my identity in Christ. The thing is, all these wonderful precious things concerning my identity in Christ comes back to how I live because of those things. I have to daily die to self.

It’s just not about us. It’s about serving and loving the One Who gives us all those things. Our identity in Christ isn’t about patting ourselves on the back and telling ourselves how great we are. Why do we want to continue this theme of telling women how beautiful, brave, and special they are?

When we think about our identity in Christ, it is about reflecting on the sacrifice of the Lord. It’s not about reflecting on ourselves. It’s about reflecting on a God that loved us so much that He paid the ultimate price by sending His Son to die for us.

When we reflect on that, our identity in Christ becomes about that road to Calvary. It becomes about the cross. It becomes about the suffering of Jesus. It becomes about the death, burial, and resurrection. It becomes about redemption.

In turn our identity in Christ should become all about action. It’s not an ego trip. It’s about living holy and fruitful lives as a Christian.

Thanks for mulling over with me yet another issue that makes me wonder where has all the teaching gone. I just want you to really think before you grab a list of verses and a list of ideas from the internet before teaching and sharing them.

• Read entire verses.
• Read entire chapters.
• Find context.
• Think.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2 Timothy 4:3 (KJV)

©2019 Julia Bettencourt.

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