DL Foundation: Identity // Created & Known by God

Who you were created to be is the person God wants to turn you into.
 
We talk a lot about identity a lot at Wesley. Bob talks about it, Clay talks about it, Daniel talks about it, your discipler talks about it. What’s the obsession?
 
I think more times than not, the way we see ourselves is perverted, or skewed, or we place our identity in the wrong hands with the wrong people. Whether we are basing our identity on our GPA, resume, a talent, or even your family, we will eventually see that those things are not sustainable or constant, but very weak and temporary. All of those things are really good things! They are things that we should care about and give our best too! But, our identity is so much bigger than those things can hold. Those things literally do not have the capacity to define us- we were created much more complex than that!
 
Our identities need to be cultivated and sustained by someone who has that capacity- and who better than the person who created us!!
 
If you were an artist, you would never paint a picture and then let someone else come in and define it. That would make no sense! You know that painting, you knew it when it was just a blank canvas. You put every stroke and bit of color on that thing, you know it backwards and forwards! How wrong would someone be if they told you what it was instead of you telling them!

I think a lot of times that’s what we are doing to God when we place our identities in anything but him- we are telling him what we are instead of letting him define us! He literally made you, physically, mentally, emotionally, everything! There is not one thing about you that he did not design. Who other than him would know who we are?

Letting him define you is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself. Seriously though. Having your identity based in Jesus means having your true identity based in someone who can sustain and fulfill you all the time. Having your identity in Jesus means that no sin issue, no struggle or temptation can take away who you were created to be- He is so secure!

First and foremost, we were created by God in his image. That is where we started, and that is where our identity gets to begin. We began as the perfect image of God, then sin entered the picture. Sin is serious; it shouldn’t be ignored or taken lightly. Jesus took it seriously and did not ignore it. That’s why he came, that’s why he paid the price for cover them. He did that to restore us to the person we were created to be. One of the most beautiful things about our restoration is that Jesus sees the gold in us, and instead of destroying us because of our sin, he restores us to be who we truly are.
 
Sin does not shatter us beyond repair- God restores us.
Sin does not get a say in our identity- God does.