Identity is a major issue. Many of us try to find our identity in other people, or the things we have, or the accomplishments we’ve made, or the skills we have. The list could go on and on. But life is fluid. It’s ever-changing. We get disappointed. People fail us. We need a solid rock. We need the One who created us to tell us who we are.
When we give our hearts and lives to Jesus, He tells us who we are and what we have. It’s the best.
A man named Paul, who hated believers in Christ, got stopped in his tracks one day by Jesus Himself. That encounter drastically changed him and he started to see what real life was about. He gave his heart and his life to Christ and he wrote a letter to some believers in Ephesus, Greece. They were words that God inspired him to write and that letter to the Ephesians is a part of the Bible. The words are priceless and tell us a lot about who God says we are. Here are some of them:
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
“God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.
“God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.
“Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.
“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 1:3-20 NLT
I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have.
barbara
August 14, 2020
What astounding love – that He should choose us even before the beginning of time to be His children. Thanks for these incredible reminders of who we truly are.