Your new identity in Christ matters; shake off your false identity. It’s gone. Accept the truth you are a wonderful and treausured new creation.
Did you know that when you embrace who God says you are — blessed, forgiven, precious and more — you discover true contentment? Who doesn’t want unwavering contentment, a very real and blessed happiness?
But you’ve struggled with self-acceptace, haven’t you? Dare I say we all have. Our false identities cling like cat hair. We don’t like them but they are hard to shake. Click & Tweet! . .even after we become Christians and get an inkling of the Truth.
Believing the World’s Lies
Many years ago, like many overly self-counscious teen girls, I stared in the bathroom mirror and my 14-year-old eyes spoke the question of my soul: Who am I?
A gangling eighth-grader; a highly sensitive, gangling eighth-grader, I tried to smile at the right times at my new school and not do something stupid. Basically I just wanted to fit in.
Did I mention I was shy?
Then the popular (aka mean) girls at my new school thought it hilarious to call me spacey. I wondered if this was who I was.
Was I “spacey” like the mean girls at my new school said?
Insecure, yes. Quiet, yes. Spacey, no.
Then, later that year — and I didn’t tell a soul at school — my dad spent more than a month in a psych ward, and his diagnosis of manic-depression scrambled my thoughts. Like father, like daughter? Did his problem determine my identity?
Even later that horrible year, a boy molested me several times. Was my identity now “victim”?
Where to Find Acceptance
For a long time, yes. I saw myself as an insecure, anxious victim who longed for acceptance. I tried and tried and tried to make people like me. My happiness depended on what others thought of me and how they treated me. I was a people-pleaser through and through, and that’s a horrible way to live, being jerked around by others’ opinions.
Then God showed me a better way: What matters most is who God says I am. The same is true for you Click & Tweet! .
Think about it. Who knows me best? Who knows you best? The real you. Your Maker, right?
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31
In Christ alone, you discover your new identity and know God accepts you because of the Cross.
What Would You Add to the List?
Here’s the short list of who he says you are. Would you like the long list? I’d be honored to send you a complimentary download. Just leave a comment below or contact me.
Please notice they are present tense. They are true of you now.
You are blessed. (Ephesians 1:3)
You are forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7)
You are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You are complete. (Colossians 2:9-10)
You are eternally secure. (Romans 8:31-39)
You are God’s workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10)
You are God’s treasure. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
These statements are true of folks who are believers in Jesus as their Savior. If you are not certain that you are a believer, may I encourage you to go here to find out? Easy to understand. Interactive. Answers your questions.
Sharing hope with your heart,
Lucy: I meet so many women who have taken on the label that someone else has given them. They are in agony because they have accepted what someone else has determined. They have not searched and stayed in God’s Word to let His truth sink down deep into their hearts as TRUTH. What a great article to address this and to proclaim that our identity in Christ comes from Him alone!!! Lin Sons
Lucy, thank you for this post. I believe Middle School is a real killer for young girls. So much happens in those years that young girls use to define themselves whether good or bad. I think as women it is imperative we encourage these young girls and help them to see who God says they are with a voice that speaks louder then the world around them. Thank you for speaking the truth on your post this morning and backing it with scripture. Kathy
Please send me the longer list that you mentioned.
Thanks for asking! I’ll send it today or tomorrow. God bless you, Lucy