At our Wildfire Youth Retreat this past weekend, we taught on discovering your Spiritual Gifts, Core Values and Identity. It was a time where we could all come together and seek God for what He wants to say to us.
As I was teaching about Identity, I felt like this lesson was not just for the Youth but a lesson for us all. In the world that we live in, our identity, if not found in Christ, can be easily questioned and moved from one thing to another.
In examining the Life of Jesus, I could see that there was an order of operations in which Jesus himself built His Identity.
Before Jesus began His ministry and did anything that the Lord required of Him, He went to John the Baptist to be Baptized. The scriptures say in Matthew 3:16-17 “16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.””
At this moment, I believe God established Jesus’ Identity stating that He was His Son, whom He loved and that He was well pleased with Him. The significance of these words can only be understood in the view of Jesus’ entire life on earth.
Jesus’ identity, given by God, was not based on what He did. It was based on what God said.
Throughout Jesus’s life on earth he healed a demon possessed man, a man with leprosy, a paralyzed man, etc. the list goes on. Out of all the times God could have told Jesus that He was pleased with Him, any of those times would have made sense. Yet God chose to tell Jesus that He was pleased with Him before He could do anything to earn His love.
Jesus’ identity, given by God, was not based on what others thought of Him. It was based on what God said.
As soon as God spoke those words over Jesus, the scripture says in Matthew 4:1-3 “4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Oftentimes when God speaks a word to us that can change our lives, the enemy is right around the corner ready to get you to question everything you were told. Jesus went through this same process with His Identity. I believe Jesus was tested in the Wilderness to see if He really believed in God’s word. The devil was trying to make Jesus prove that He was the Son of God, but Jesus had nothing to prove. Jesus knew that He is the Son of God.
Jesus’ life reveals that there were ample opportunities for Him to question His Identity based on His thoughts, feelings and experiences here on earth. Yet He chose to put God’s words over everything He thought, felt and experienced.
If the enemy can’t get you, then maybe others can. Don’t get me wrong, others can confirm and remind you of what God has already spoken to you but others can also label you as someone or something that God did not say to you. The world will test you to see if you really believe what God spoke over you.
If Jesus didn’t know who He was He could have easily questioned Himself based on what others said about Him.
Matthew 13:55 (NIV)
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?”
Matthew 16:13-17 NIV
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
Jesus’ life has shown us the order of operations in which to build our Identity
- God – Who does God say you are?
- Yourself – Do you believe what God said is true? Despite your feelings, thoughts and experiences that may tell you otherwise..
- Others – Can others confirm what God has said to you?
Let me contrast this with what I believe how the world operates in building your identity:
- Others – Others often base who you are on what you do and what they can see from the outside. They will label you based on what you do rather than who you are.
- Yourself – Based on what I’m good at and what others say about me, who am I? Do you have to prove to yourself and others who you are?
- God – (If You’re a Christian) Now that I have what others have said about me, and my own observations of myself based on my thoughts, feelings and experiences, do they match what God says? If they don’t match does that mean God’s wrong?
As I told Wildfire and myself, this is not a one stop shop where we get our identity and go. This is a process in which God reminds us of who we are each day of our lives. For those of us who have forgotten what God said to us, let us return to His word. For those who have done things backwards, let us go to the God who has the First and Final words over our lives and receive what He wants to say to us.
Luke 5:16 (NIV) says “16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Father, may we follow the ways of Jesus in building our Identity and go to you in prayer whenever we think, feel and experience things that are counter to your words. God help us to put you in your rightful place in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!