‘So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ John 3:38
Your context, community, culture and choices may have had a significant role in shaping your identity, however if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour your identity has now been transformed.
Who you were is being continually transformed into the likeness of Jesus. If your name is Mary Brown you will still be known to people as Mary Brown, but you are actually Mary Brown, a daughter of the King of Kings and a co-heir with Christ!
Understanding the ‘identity transformation’ that takes place through salvation can release us from many of the negative experiences that have shaped our identity and release us into the freedom that is found in Christ alone.
It has been my experience that the more I embrace my identity in Christ the more I can live and lead like Jesus. At various times over the last 50 years of trusting Jesus, I have leaned back towards aspects of my own identity formation rather than leaning into the identity transformation that occurred when I received Jesus as my Saviour. I think back to my teenage years when, at times, I identified myself with the culture of my forefathers rather than with culture of the kingdom of heaven. This led me to the edge of involvement in things that could be regarded as illegal and I am eternally grateful to God for the Holy Spirit calling me back to my true identity in Christ.
Before we met Jesus, we were trapped by the snare of the enemy and by our own selfish ambitions, but in Jesus, we have been set free. If we choose to live our lives without the knowledge of our identity in Christ, we will find ourselves repeatedly being led back towards sin and selfishness, whereas if we live our lives in the identity that we have through Jesus Christ, we will live lives that are pleasing to God and that serve His Kingdom purposes rather than our own.
As ‘Jesus-centred leaders’ we need to continue to live in the freedom for which Christ has set us free, so that we might bring glory to Him and so that we might live and lead through His grace and wisdom.
Father we thank You that we have been set free through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We thank You that we are not held captive to the cultures of the past but we choose to walk in the culture of heaven so that we might see Your kingdom come on earth as it is heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen!