Identity

I began listening to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Washington, podcast this week.  He has devoted his last 5 years of study to the book of Ephesians, and I heard his first message covering our identity.  (If you are looking for a great podcast, subscribe to his!) 

The truth of his message stopped me in my tracks to think about "Who am I?".  What is my identity?  I think this is a fair and honest question all of us ask ourselves all of the time.  The wrong question to ask is. "Who do people say I am" or "Who do I want to be".  The better question to ask is "Who am I".  I am a man, an American, married with 3 kids... and so on.  This is who I am, and from the beginning of time, we notice that we are who we are because of WHOSE we are.  We are created in the very image of God (Gen 1:26).  We reflect God and are like Him, so we are His.

If you are like me, we can become lost with our identity of who we are.  Why?  I believe it is because we loose our focus of who our creator is and who we are to be like.  I believe we become more concerned about what others think of us and what our culture thinks of us more that what we think God thinks of us.  Is this not true?  We are called to be salt and light from Matthew 5, to be a light that shine in the darkness.  So how can we let the light of Christ shine in our lives and not be hidden?  How can we come to an understanding that I am who I am for a purpose?  How can we become all that Christ wants us to be and fulfill His purpose in our lives? 

Begin by:
STOPPING - stop the madness of pleasing and catering to the world around you and recognize you are not God
IDENTIFY - realize you are not your own, but you are made in the image of God and your identity is found in Him
SURRENDER - surrender your life to Christ
SEEK - seek the things of God and not of the culture we live in

Challenge - identify ONE way we begin to place our identity in Christ today and ONE thing we can do to surrender to Him today.

Keith