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