Salvation isn’t just a fancy word that preachers and pastors use in their sermons or teachings. Salvation is an actual experience. It is an experience in which we encounter the transforming power of God. The problem is that believers in Christ hear so little and know very little about what now accrues to them as a result of that experience.
“Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things
have come.” 2nd Corinthians 5:17 Holman Christian Standard Bible
One
of the things that has now become ours is a new identity in Christ. 1st
Corinthians 15:20-49 gives a treatise on this new identity. Adam and our Lord
Jesus are termed the first man and the second man respectively. They are both
progenitors of 2 lineages of men, each lineage with its distinct
characteristics and unique identity. By natural birth, we took on the
characteristics of Adam’s lineage and bore his identity. Through spiritual birth
and regeneration in Christ, we take on the characteristics of a new lineage and
bear a new identity from Christ Jesus.
This
is so because believers in Christ have entered a spiritual union with Him:
“But anyone joined to the
Lord is one spirit with Him” 2nd Corinthians 6:17 Holman Christian
Standard Bible
Romans
6: 3-7 also teach us about the union we have with Christ. This spiritual union
with Christ should form the basis of the believer’s identity. Rather than
follow people’s opinions or the perceptions of culture about our identity, we
should focus more and more on who God says we are in Christ Jesus.
Permit
me to share a personal experience. I noticed early in primary school that I had
a squint (the medical term is strabismus). As we all will probably remember,
the taunts of other children can be so hurtful. I was called “4 0 Clock eyes”
by some of my primary school mates. Many of them looked at me in a funny way.
People constantly looked around when I spoke to them as they were not sure I
was addressing them because of my squint. I was brilliant and I had very bright
ideas but I had a major difficulty speaking with people. This experience
coupled with some other events in childhood made me lacking in confidence in
public gatherings or even in conversations with people I was not familiar with.
I had allowed my physical appearance (the squint) and people’s opinions (the
taunts from my mates) to form a basis for my thoughts about myself. After I got
saved in Secondary School, one day while reading my Bible I found a verse in
Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
“For God did not give us a
spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” 2nd
Timothy 1:7 New International Version.
That
verse was an eye-opener! It began to revolutionize my considerations and
conclusions about who I thought I was. I started changing my sense of identity
and my perspective about who I really am. Now my squint hasn’t gone but I do
not take my identity from it anymore, in fact when young children meet me in
the Clinic and I notice them gazing into my face and appearing confused, I
smile and gently explain to them that one of my eyes is not in focus. I know I
am more than just how my eyes are. I am more than just how I look. I am more
than the things I own, or what people say or think of me. I am who God says I
am.
In
secular life, we have identity documents like International Passports, Driver’s
Licenses and Identity cards that contain details of our natural identity like
gender, nationality, birth date, place of birth, etc. Similarly, we have the
Scriptures as a written record of our new identity in Christ. Particularly in
the Pauline epistles, we find descriptions of the believer’s new identity in
Christ. In the book of Ephesians alone, I find at least 20 statements about who
the believer is, about who I am. I have found it immensely helpful in my
spiritual sojourn to return again and again to these epistles to be reminded of
these realities.
Here
are a few of what Ephesians says about the believer in Christ:
You…
·
Are a
saint in Christ Ephesians 1:1;
·
Are
blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Ephesians 1:3;
·
Were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1:4, 11;
·
Were
predestined for adoption to sonship in Christ Ephesians 1:5;
·
Are
redeemed in Him Ephesians 1:7;
·
Are
forgiven in accordance with the riches of God’s grace Ephesians 1:7;
·
Are
sealed with the Holy Spirit Ephesians 1:13;
·
Are
made alive in Him Ephesians 2:1;
·
Are
raised up in Christ Ephesians 2:6;
·
Are
seated with Him in the heavenly places Ephesians 2:6;
·
Are
God’s masterpiece created in Christ Ephesians 2:10;
·
Have
been brought near by the blood of Christ Ephesians 2:13;
·
Have
been reconciled in Him Ephesians 2:16;
·
Have
access to the Father by one Spirit in Him Ephesians 2:18;
· Are no
longer a stranger or a foreigner but a fellow citizen with God’s people and a
member of His household in Christ Ephesians 2:19;
· Along
with other believers are being built a holy temple in Christ as God’s dwelling
Ephesians 2:21, 22;
·
Are
equipped by grace in Him Ephesians 4:7-12;
·
Are
given a new self, created in true righteousness and holiness Ephesians 4:24
This
our new identity is not based on feelings but on spiritual facts and realities.
If I may illustrate with this example, I am a Nigerian by earthly descent. My
parents are both Nigerians and I was born and bred here in Nigeria. I may not “feel”
like a Nigerian but you see, that is my nationality, purely based on facts and
not on feelings. In the same way, even though we may not always “feel” like who
or what God says we are, that does not change the reality of our new identity. So,
you see I may not “feel” like I am God’s masterpiece but the spiritual reality
is that I am exactly who He says I am!
“…Even if everyone else is a
liar, God is true…” Romans 3:4 New Living Translation
So,
dear child of God, fill your mind with the realities of your union with Christ
and let these facts form the basis of your sense of identity. The video this
week tells us some more about the believer’s new identity in Christ while the second link is to a list of 52 identity statements of believers in Christ. Kindly watch the video and read or even download the list. Don’t
settle for anything less. Rise and take your place in the reality of the new
identity you have been given in Christ.
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