Identity

Each of us has a beautiful true self inside of us. It is God’s gift to us. But many of us can hardly take this in. Somewhere life taught us that our true self wasn’t welcome or wanted. Consequently, we learned to hide our true self. In it’s place we constructed a false self. The false self strives to cobble together an identity from secondary things:

• reputation
• success
• status
• family
• jobs
• health

But an identity based on these things is rooted in idols. And idols can be LOST! Things that are here today and gone tomorrow proved a precarious mooring for the soul. Our truest identity can never be something we accomplish, earn or prove on our own. It is a gift we receive from Jesus. It is not something we earn through performance; it is what we are given. Scripture tells us that:

• I am chosen (John 15:16)
• I am a beloved child of God (1 John 3:1)
• I am a friend of Jesus (John 15:15)
• I am a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)
• I am God’s work of art (Ephesians 2:10)
• I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)

All content above is an excerpt taken from the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that transform us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Amazon link, CBD link, Google Book Search link

For additional identity affirmations based on scripture, see this post, Who I Am In Christ, borrowed from KenBoa.org,