Identity Crisis
June 30, 2023
In 2023, the world we live in is facing the most overwhelming identity crisis that we, as a society, have ever faced. People are confused and deceived by the enemy of their souls about who they really are. We have women saying they are men and men saying they are women. We have men in relationships with other men and women in relationships with other women. There are also those who reject gender altogether and call themselves “non-binary”. And there are even those that have identified as animals or other ages and some as races different than their DNA. The world is having an absolute identity crisis right before our very eyes. As believers in Christ, we feel compassion for those suffering from the afflictions and deceptions brought on by a fallen world. We are meant to be the light and salt in the earth and to do this we must reveal the meaning of their true identity founded in a loving Creator. Before we can do this, the church has to deal with its own identity crisis first.
The Word of God says this about our identity in 2 Corinthians 5:21, TPT, “For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.” Here it says “the righteousness of God”, this simply means that we were made right with God. We were put back into ‘right’ relationship with Him. Where there was once something that stood between us, (sin), there is no longer that blockage or that issue. He sees us as completely right. Jesus took our place, took our sins, and gave us His position of righteousness. Being made right with God changes us down to our core- securing our identity in Him.
Jesus stood in our place and received the judgment and punishment that was due us. He took on our identity to give us His identity. When we receive Jesus it changes everything about us completely. We no longer look like ourselves. In the spirit, we look just like Jesus. When God looks at us He sees Jesus. We have to really ask the Holy Spirit to allow this revelation to penetrate deep. Those old identities can scream so loud at us sometimes attempting to keep us stuck in them instead of enjoying the freedom of our new identity in Jesus. Notice that I keep saying “in Jesus”, “because of Jesus”, “like Jesus”, “through Jesus”, and so on. This is because without Him there is literally no hope for us. None of this would be even close to possible without Him. We have to drive this point home or we risk getting pulled into that “works mentality” and we think our righteousness comes from us and our good deeds or our not-so-good deeds. Our goal is to begin to identify how Jesus identifies. We get this revelation through 1 John 4:17, TPT, “By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world.“
Ask yourself, “How does Jesus identify?” Does Jesus identify as sick? Or broken? Or poor? Or depressed? Is He fearful, anxious, addicted, or hopeless? No, of course not! Typically when we think of how Jesus identifies we would think of Him as King, Lord, ruler over all, victorious, conqueror, healed and whole, rich and wealthy beyond measure, joy-filled, faithful, strong, righteous, holy, powerful, complete and perfect, free and reigning far above the things of this world. Here’s the thing, because Jesus took on our identity and gave us His, we now get to identify just like Jesus. We get to choose to identify as the healed, the whole, the rich and wealthy, the joy-filled, the victorious, the powerful through Jesus, the free, the righteous, the holy, the faithful, the ones sitting with Jesus in heavenly places, the strong, the conquerors, the complete and perfect, and the ones reigning far above the things of this world! Jesus made our new identities available to us. Whether we choose to step into them or not, they are available. He became sin, took our punishment and the curse on Himself so that He could put us back into right standing with God. That is finished and completed regardless if we believe it and step into it. So we can either choose to believe it, receive it, renew our minds to it, and live in it or we can let it lie untouched and unused. It’s our decision. Grace makes it and faith takes it. It’s our choice as believers to receive this free gift or stay bound to how we always used to be.
We have to stop identifying with our past weaknesses that once held power over us. We get to choose how we identify so let’s identify as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! After all, Jesus did literally go through hell to give us this new identity so let’s make it worth it for Him! When the enemy comes with lies that you’re still bound to fear, or a sickness, or an addiction, or depression, or lack, or whatever you used to identify as, declare with your mouth, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ, I am made right with God because of Jesus. I identify as ______ (healed, whole, prosperous, wealthy, peaceful, confident, fearless, free from addiction, in control, holy, joyful and happy beyond measure, etc). I no longer identify as my old self, I identify the same way Jesus identifies, and He identifies as victorious of all!” Begin to renew your mind to your new identity and walk in it. Don’t let this benefit Jesus made available go to waste in your life. And when the body of Christ can find their true identity through Jesus they can show a very lost world that they can also identify as Jesus. Because after all, they’re simply searching for the thing that is going to fill the empty place in their soul, they just don’t know that Jesus fills every void with Himself. So let’s show them, Jesus.
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