Speaking of identity....

Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)

The world is not going to see you. The world is not going to recognize who you are. But just as you recognize the spirit of Jesus, now that He's left the world physically, He will recognize your spirit.

Which is pretty cool.

One of my favorite names for God is El Roi: the God who sees me. It doesn't matter how the world perceives you, because the one who knitted you together in your mother's womb knows when you sit down and when you rise up, and knows every thought in your mind and every word before it passes your lips (Psalm 139). Like most humans, I have such a powerful desire to be seen, recognized, and appreciated. I love that the world's rejection actually confirms my identity in Jesus, because the world rejected him, too.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27)

The world wants to criticize me and give me an identity of failure. Sometimes, even I want to give me an identity of failure.

It's a good thing Jesus doesn't give like the world gives. Or even like I give.

Recently, I've been trying to attach the identity of FAILURE to myself. I finished my contractual term yesterday, and I don't have another job lined up. I am moving back to Mississippi, and the stress of changing addresses and dealing with adult things makes me feel lazy, and I want to act like a baby. I feel whiny on the inside. Maybe I don't seem like a mess outwardly, but inwardly, I'm not the easiest person to get along with. (Good thing I'm the only one who has to live with me.) I am getting a little focused on my sin and failure.

But: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

Christians often get stuck on "being good," on working out our faith, on sin. But sin is dead in Christ--and what we are dealing with is so much bigger than sin. It's not a matter of sin anymore; it's a matter of walking out your new identity in Christ.

We are dead, and so are our failures.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:3-6)

I used to think, when I read that, that it was a call to set your mind on the Spirit--that we had to wage war daily against our flesh. And we do have to take every thought captive and submit our bodies to God daily. But I didn't understand that this isn't a commandment to make you feel guilty about not controlling your every thought. It's not about thoughts. It's about identity.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11)

I know I'm quoting scripture all over the place, but you need to see this truth about your identity. Paul is not saying, "Don't set your mind on the flesh." He is saying, "Don't worry that you are one of those people that sets your mind on the flesh. If you have the Spirit of God in you, you aren't."

If you are a follower of Christ, alive by His Spirit, you are already setting your mind on the Spirit. God has already given you new life.

Any time you fail and sin, it's not really a matter of sin but a misunderstanding of your identity.

You are alive by the Spirit of God. All you have to do is start acting like it. Walk out the righteousness that you already are in Christ. When you have to make a choice to sin or not, remember who you are.

You are dead, and have been raised to a new life through Jesus. Because He lives, you also live.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:9)

He knows you. He sees you. And He doesn't see you like the world sees you. Start seeing with His eyes.