Your Identity Matters
Who’s driving you? What is your purpose in life? To find out, begin with the end in mind. It’s time to play the movie to preview your future destination because…your identity matters.
Who’s driving you? What is your purpose in life? To find out, begin with the end in mind. It’s time to play the movie to preview your future destination because…your identity matters.
When you accept your identity in Christ, you will find purpose and meaning. Your identity in Christ is who you really are at the core. “You are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17). No other identity crisis matters.
Every follower of Jesus is identified as a temple, a new creation. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives and moves in your body. You are mobile like a car, an automobile.
++ YOUR NEW IDENTITY ++
The fire of the presence of God that consumed the sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem is now the fire of the presence of God in your body.
Your BODY is the temple of God.
Compared to your new identity from a divine perspective, your human viewpoint includes labels, achievements, culture, personality, gender, social status, looks, individual beliefs, nationality, and more. You label yourself inaccurately with a faulty mindset. Not so with Jesus. By surrendering to your identity in Christ, you shine the light of God through your brokenness.
That supernatural fire, the Person named the Holy Spirit, empowers you. In other words, unless you surrender to be led by God’s Spirit, you will not find joy in your unique identity.
“God’s personal temple presence — God’s Spirit that was foretold by Israel’s prophets — now has come to take up residence in the new temple of Jesus’ body, that is, His people. They’ve become little mobile temples where God now dwells. (Mackie & Collins).
In their animated video, Tim and Jon explain what makes you tick now that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. You are not your own. You are redeemed, bought back — brought back — because He took your place so that you could become a new creation as the specific individual God created you to be. You do not have to try harder to “be good” because God empowers you with His power when you surrender to His will to make you into the person you can be. His will becomes your will, your “want-to” because your love for God is #1. The Great Commandment to love God first results in becoming the best you can be. Let no other love of people or things replace God.
Pentecost is 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus said He had to leave so that the Holy Spirit would come upon them to spread the Word that there is only one way through the door to heaven. Many roads lead to heaven but there is only one way through, by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, your Savior. He saves you from yourself. He takes your place on the slave market of sin.
You are chosen to be His image bearer, empowered by His presence indwelling you. God is not interested in riding in the backseat of the vehicle of your life.
It’s not about trying harder, pressing the foot-feed to the floor, speeding past others to be #1 on the racetrack of life. No more “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” (That was my mother’s saying for doing too much.)
Think of yourself as a vessel, an instrument, a vehicle to be used for His glory and for your good. He seeks to be your Chauffeur, the Driver of your heart. Let go of the wheel. He has a pace that is healing and healthy.
Jesus said, “Your will be done.” As He prayed to God on the night He was betrayed, He surrendered to be led by God. He was not driven by His own will. Now, His example of surrender is yours to follow. God will reveal your identity so that you become the person He created you to be.
Just ask God to show you how because God sees your heart.
He has a specific design for you. He knows how, because He created you. God says, “My will be done,” and unless there is surrender to be led by God’s will, where your will aligns with His, He will not make you into the person that He created you to be.
Tony Evans describes some realistic expectations on your pathway through life to become like His Son, Jesus Christ.
“You’re going on a journey, a trip you have to take. You don’t have an option. There will be landmines that you will not be able to see, explosives that you will not detect, quicksand that will be covered over. There will be pits that you will be able to fall into, but they will not be obvious to you.
But after being told this disappointing, discouraging news about this journey you must take, the person speaking to you gives you a map with all the places where the dangers lie are written. It shows you where every landmine is, where every explosive is, where every pit is, where every place that would seek to destroy your life is.
How are you going to treat this map? Will you put it in your pocket? Will you ignore it? Will you read it once a week? Will you reference it occasionally? That map is going to become the most precious thing in your life because you want to make it to the other side.
We are all on a journey called life. Once you were born, you started this journey. God has given you a map — His Word, and His Word is designed to reveal to you the pitfalls.
What you think about the map will affect how well you do on the journey. You might decide to bottle it up and put it in your pocket — ignore that it’s there (Evans, 2022).
How the Enemy Tries to Distract You from God’s Plan
The map is God’s Word, the Bible. You can track your progress by previewing the movie in a practical way using this book to check the trajectory of your direction. Your unique identity in Christ matters because God’s Holy Spirit shines within you to give you supernatural Christian living, moment by moment! In other words, the heat and light generated by the fire of His Holy Spirit enlightens a clear pathway for you to be a mobile temple. Your destination is determined by the direction of what attracted your attention from the motivation of your heart. Those choices will be tested and revealed that Day.
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
(1 Corinthians 3:9–17)
The paths you choose will determine your direction and ultimately your destination. At the end of your journey there is a Day of Judgment. Be a mobile temple to reflect Jesus.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1)
By taking time to reflect, you can clearly determine who’s driving you crazy or who’s driving you every moment.
