And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV
How does the Lord transform the human mind and how does He gift human life? What does He do to make our unique personalities fit for His service? These are some of the relations that Paul hoped to disclose to the saints in Ephesus, and it all starts with knowing who we are in Christ.
If we do not know who we are in Jesus, it is impossible to enjoy the fullness of the gifts of God. If we do not know who we are in Him, we will never think that we are included in God’s intent for our lives and for creation. We will instead live, chasing an identity that competes with the inexhaustible riches that God wants to bestow on us in His grace. We will wake up every day frustrated with the mystery of God’s will. We will, like the prodigal son, take our inheritance and waste it.
We can live a long time without knowing who we are. We will protect the privilege of those around us by refusing to speak our truth or challenge others’ faulty thinking. That may not be life-threatening, but it will cause us to become a prisoner of others’ comfort at the expense of our own.
The gift that we are given along with salvation is an identity that was predestined for us. God made plans for our lives long before we physically existed. Many of us need to understand that: We are living a life that was pre-planned, predestined. That doesn’t mean that we are controlled because we can resist and reject this gift of God. It is bestowed as an inheritance from God.
The riches of God’s grace, that have been spelled out in His inheritance for us ought to convict us to surrender to Him. We should be living our lives with the guarantee of divine purpose, intentioned placement, unlimited access to Him, and spiritual power.
No matter the labels that we have been given or have given ourselves, no label should compete with the priority of our label as Christians. We cannot let our culture that is trying to create syncretism and spiritual pluralism force us away from owning our Christianity as the foremost part of our identities. We cannot let the fact that Christianity offends others in our culture to stop us from professing it.
We are followers of Jesus Christ. No matter what labels come to define us, they are not to the negation of our passion for Christ.
