Gettin' Jittery Widdit / Identity in Christ
Back at Jittery's. Been here since 1:45 p.m. and haven't gotten done nearly what I needed to. Evidence: I'm blogging now. I finally remembered to pack my earplugs so I can block out the music they play here. I know I'm not cool enough, or "in" enough, to appreciate it. I'm just a professional musician with a few decades of training and study, but what do I know?
And they've turned up the heat, so I'll be nodding off in a bit. WHOA. As soon as I typed that, the employee went to the thermostat and turned it down. He said it had been set on 85. The three tables around me just let out a collective sigh of appreciation.
Our identity is in Christ. This is a sex-blind truth. Elect men and women have the same core identity: being in Christ. It's expression is different, in part because of our sex, in part because of our gender (they are not the same thing, by the way, and I'd be happy to explain that later), and in part because of the personality traits we were born with and developed by living.
Perhaps the ubiquitous teenage identity search is a singular teachable moment: that we are built to want an identity, and we will only be satisfied if we are found in Christ.
So I have come to conceptualize my identity in two parts: one changeable, one not. My unchangeable identity is in Christ: it is what it is, and not only can I not change it, I wouldn't want to. This identity is founded on the Rock, and I can go back to it to find peace and comfort and guidance regarding how I am to be in this world.
The changeable part is the one that causes me to sin because the enemy and my old nature conspire to make me search for my identity in anything but God. Who am I? Am I a musician? Am I a Reformed Evangelical? Am I an intellectual? Am I a Southerner? Am I a frat boy? Am I a lawyer? Am I a sinner? Am I a recovering homosexual? Am I a recovering addict? Am I a practicing addict? Am I a latent tattoo townie? Am I controversial? Am I boring? Am I outgoing? Am I introverted?
Who am I?
Every answer to that question leads me to sin because it leads me to an identity in something not-Christ. It is self-referential. Even the answer "I am a Christian" is not-Christ. Hell is full of people who thought themselves a Christian, but not Christ's.
So the question that matters is this (and you all know this): "Whose am I?" If my identity is in Christ, then I am His. Everything holy proceeds out of that.
And they've turned up the heat, so I'll be nodding off in a bit. WHOA. As soon as I typed that, the employee went to the thermostat and turned it down. He said it had been set on 85. The three tables around me just let out a collective sigh of appreciation.
Our identity is in Christ. This is a sex-blind truth. Elect men and women have the same core identity: being in Christ. It's expression is different, in part because of our sex, in part because of our gender (they are not the same thing, by the way, and I'd be happy to explain that later), and in part because of the personality traits we were born with and developed by living.
Perhaps the ubiquitous teenage identity search is a singular teachable moment: that we are built to want an identity, and we will only be satisfied if we are found in Christ.
So I have come to conceptualize my identity in two parts: one changeable, one not. My unchangeable identity is in Christ: it is what it is, and not only can I not change it, I wouldn't want to. This identity is founded on the Rock, and I can go back to it to find peace and comfort and guidance regarding how I am to be in this world.
The changeable part is the one that causes me to sin because the enemy and my old nature conspire to make me search for my identity in anything but God. Who am I? Am I a musician? Am I a Reformed Evangelical? Am I an intellectual? Am I a Southerner? Am I a frat boy? Am I a lawyer? Am I a sinner? Am I a recovering homosexual? Am I a recovering addict? Am I a practicing addict? Am I a latent tattoo townie? Am I controversial? Am I boring? Am I outgoing? Am I introverted?
Who am I?
Every answer to that question leads me to sin because it leads me to an identity in something not-Christ. It is self-referential. Even the answer "I am a Christian" is not-Christ. Hell is full of people who thought themselves a Christian, but not Christ's.
So the question that matters is this (and you all know this): "Whose am I?" If my identity is in Christ, then I am His. Everything holy proceeds out of that.
posted by Jason at 7:15 PM
2 Comments:
You have a tattoo? Have I seen this? As your FBGF, I feel I have the right to know these things....
Yes, I have a tattoo, and hopefully I will have more one day. The only reason you didn't know about my tattoo is because we are Christian Facebook B/F-G/F. We don't do that kind of stuff on our cyber-dates.
Post a Comment
<< Home