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Author: Eunice Coughlin Article source: http://www.christianladies.net/. Used with author's permission.
In order to be spiritually healthy, you need to realize what your identity is in Christ. Your identity in Christ is simply who you become once you receive Christ as your Savior.
Before salvation, a person's identity is largely a product of their upbringing…whether nice or mean, happy or sad, positive or negative. Before salvation, many people think of their identity as what they do for a living, who they are married to, what kind of family they came from. Some even define themselves according to what kind of personality they have…whether outgoing, temperamental, or introverted. Some people may have even found their identity in what kind of astrological sign they were born under!
You might be happy with those labels. Unfortunately, those labels can put us in a box from which we can't escape. No one is perfect and everyone comes to a point in his or her life when they realize that something has to change if they want their circumstances to change.
That's when many people come to Christ. They realize that only through the power of God can they change their circumstances, their thought patterns and their life. The good news is that once you receive salvation, you become a "new creature in Christ." What does that mean? Well, you take on the character of Jesus because He comes to live inside of you.
What is the character of Jesus like? Since Jesus is the Son of God, and God is love, you can say that, according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Jesus is patient, kind, and humble. He is not envious, boastful or proud. He is not rude or self-seeking or easily angered. He keeps no record of wrongs. He does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. And since Jesus came to dwell inside of you once you received his gift of salvation, you can say that you are all of those things as well.
You might wonder why, then, do you still get jealous? Why are you still envious, boastful or proud? Why do you get so angry sometimes with the people you love and hurt them with your actions and words? That's because we are not yet fully perfected. In Hebrews 12:2, Paul says "let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus is our beginning and our end. We start with Him when we are saved and He takes us through the changes we need to make. We might still struggle with the habits of our old self but we need to believe the truth that we are "new creatures". It may not manifest instantly in our lives; nevertheless it is truth.
In his book, "Seeing is Believing", by Gregory A. Boyd, he says "Because we habitually thought and lived as our old selves before receiving our new identity, God's proclamation of who we truly are in Christ must overcome our old self identity that we continue to experience (our sinful lives)…
It is certain that believers ultimately will be conformed to the image of Christ. (Romans 8:29) The light certainly will overcome the darkness and the truth will eventually swallow the lie. Until that time, however, we are in process."
If you are a born-again believer and you struggle with old character traits that are bringing you down, you need to come to an understanding of who you are in Christ. Pick up your Bible and look up all the character traits of Jesus. Declare these truths about yourself because that is who you are in Christ Jesus.
Does this mean that you have lost your personality once you are saved? That we are all cookie-cutter copies of Jesus? Not at all! Having Jesus as our savior sets us free to be who God designed us to be! God made each one of us as individuals. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Proverbs139:13-14. He has a plan and purpose for each one of us: "I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 Our life's plan and purpose is different because of how God created us but we can be certain it all ends up in the same place; a place where our lives will glorify Him. Just like Jesus. Copyright 2005 by Eunice Coughlin. Find out what the Bible says about who you are in Christ at http://www.healthy-living-for-moms.com/who-you-are-in-Christ.html
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