Identity Crisis

I have been having an identity crisis.....who am I? God has been clearly speaking to me, and He has been asking me....Kevan, who are you? Normally I would get rather puffed up and say, head tilt and all....I'm an RN; I'm a missionary; I'm a wife; I'm a mother. The list could go on, and on. But, in reality do any of these things matter if I do not identify myself as Christlike first?
What is identity anyhow? Identity is defined as an aspect of characteristics which a person, or thing are definitively known. I found something interesting though in a second source, which states that identity can be "sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing: oneness." Huh! Now there is an interesting thought.
So, though I do activities that constitute being a nurse, a missionary, a wife, and a mother those things do not define who I am. What defines who I am? Go with me to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, keep your Bible open I will be referring back to this passage.
Let's start in verse 17-18. "Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God. Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with himself} and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him]." (Amplified version) I am a new creation ingrafted in Christ. I love that word, ingrafted. In vision a skin graft that a doctor uses to repair a person's wound the graft has to be protected and dressed often until the new piece has become a part of the old part of skin. The old and the new become one. Through Christ you and I have been reconciled to God, and restored to His favor. Through our faith and personal belief in Christ we have brought into harmony, or oneness with Christ.
Now I could stop here and you would have received a profound thought for the day. But, the real treasure of who I am and who you really are lies in verses 19-21 of 2 Corinthians 5. "It was God [personally present] in Christ restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of restoration to favor). So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for his sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God. For our sake he made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness]."(Amplified version)
Paul reiterates that we have been reconciled to God's favor through Jesus Christ. Beloved, if there is one thing you take away from reading this blog post, let this truth be it....Christ has reconciled and restored your favor to God by dieing for your sins. He took the ashes and rubbed them away, the slate is clean, and you are stamped as His forever. Don't allow not understanding and receiving this truth to hold you in bondage. Lay down the shame and stigma your sin has caused, and allow God to release you from those chains, once and for all. When a person can release their identify to Christ that is when they will find true and complete surrender to the call God has placed on their life.
In verse 20 Paul states we are ambassadors for Christ which means exactly what it says....we are God's representatives on earth. As we are His representatives, verse 19 states we are to commit to sharing the message of reconciliation. So, essentially we as followers of Christ to commit to sharing the Gospel with others. In, verse 21 of 2 Corinthians 5 we see that Paul gives us a reason why we should proclaim God's message to others. Paul, reminds us that God sent His blameless Son to be sin in our place and to become our righteousness. He did all of that so we could be approved, accepted, and reconciled to the favor of God (in right relationship). My friend hear me....this is the key to your identity. We are reconciled and made whole; in turn we are to go and be His representative.
I had a lot of pride to let go of to get to the place where I could truly say I am made whole in Christ, and that Christ is my identity. God has really been dealing with me on the subject of pride. he has shown me over and over that if I want to serve Him that I need to remove myself from the equation. There are several circumstances in my life He has caused me to look at with new eyes. I have realized that if I fill myself with more of Christ and more of what God's desire is that my true identity will shine through. That identity does not take the character of anything except, Christ Himself.
Here are some additional scripture references about identity and pride: Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Proverbs 11:22, Romans 12:3, 2 Corinthians 10:17-18, and 2 Corinthians 11:30

Welcome Home

I have always thought of what it be like to buy and restore an old Victorian home. What a challenging, but exhilarating experience that would be. To start with something old, falling apart, and broken down then to see the finished product of a home brought back to it's prior existence would be fulfilling. I can even imagine moving day...the day I move into a fully renovated and rejuvenated home.
Over the summer I had a dream that I believe God gave me, in order to show me what He was doing in my life. Over the past year and a half I have grown closer to God, than I have ever been. My heart's desire has become to be as Christlike as I possibly can be. In the dream I saw a home that was decrepit and falling apart around me as I walked through it; the house was literally falling apart around me. The house was dark and had no light in it, and it was hard to see where I was going. At the end of the dream just for a flash I saw the house new and refinished.
I realized after I had this dream that God was showing me what He was doing in my life. The house in the dream represented my heart. He wanted me to know that He was actively tearing down the old walls in my heart in order to restore and renew it into what He wants it to be. How amazing to me that He loves me enough to help me understand what He is doing in my life.
There is a song by Shaun Groves called "Welcome Home", I love the second verse which says: "Take a seat pull up a chair, forgive me for the disrepair, and the souvenirs from floor to ceiling, gathered on my search for meaning, every closet's filled with clutter, messes yet to be discovered, I'm overwhelmed, I understand, I can't make this place all that you can." The words of this song have always spoke to me, because God wants to take our heart and truly make it into His image.
My heart is still full of some of those messes the song refers to, but I have found out that as I seek God more He wants to restore those messes. Jesus desires to take all that is broken in you and replace it with something new. He wants to restore you to a place better than where you have started. One, by one the Lord is moving from room to room in this "house" of mine and removing the debris. As, He clears the debris Jesus rebuilds, renews, and restores my heart. It is not an easy process, but God promises us in Psalm 51:12 that He will, "Restore to me the joy of salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit." (Amplified version) If I approach each new revelation with a willing heart, then God will continue to restore and heal my heart.
Beloved, life is hard...many of us have broken hearts from the wear and tear of pain. Know that whatever has happened to you, or whatever you have done that there is no pain that God cannot remove. By bringing you through the pain, Jesus will restore your heart to it's fullest potential and then move it beyond where you started. No concept in your walk in Christ is more important than to know that He is capable of restoring your heart and healing your pain.
Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound." (Amplified version)
Later, in chapter 61:4, it says that God will rebuild the ancient ruins; and raise up former desolation. If you allow Him to, God will bring restoration to your "house" too. The key is that you have to have a willing heart, that is open to Him rebuilding it in His way and according to His will.