Identity

"Identity" is a word that is used to describe a person's self-perception. Do I have value, or worth? Am I ugly, stupid, clumsy? Is the world better off with me in it?

I have heard it said that mothers rovide nuture, but fathers define one's identity. The Father made men and women. He defined their identity. He designed them. He created them.

Before creation, he could have spent 2000 years focused on the design of one person. And then, moved on to the next person. Or, because, he is right now, giving each and every person 100%, focused attention, he could have given that same attention to each one … and spent 2000 years designing us all simultaneously!

He designed our identity. He designed the place we would fill. He designed us to grow, to bless the world, to improve the world, to touch it as no one else can.

When sin entered the world, our identities were crushed, and broken. No one matches what God sees in us. But when we give our allegiance to Jesus, the Father still sees the child he designed, and created.

When Jesus rose from the water, at his baptism, a voice called out: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

God saw the one he loved, whose heart was totally entwined with his. The one who had fully accepted God's mission of building a bridge between people and God, of restoring God's family.

Jesus was beginning a new phase of the mission. He, the Father, and the Spirit knew the cost they would be making. And they knew they were accepting the cost out of love for the race of men.

God designed each one of us to fill a place. None of us are doing that. Some are in the place, but not walking in it fully. Some are lost, and have no idea in what direction the place even is. Some of us kinda know where the place is, but aren't too sure how to get there.

God designed each one of us to fill a place. And he hasn't changed his mind, because of sin. He gives 100% focused attention to restoring us to our original design. He gives 100% focused attention to guiding us to our place.

If we give him our allegiance, if we surrender to his purposes for us, if we walk with him in fellowship, we are in a position for his work in us, and through us, to occur.

Whether we find our place or not, whether we walk in it or not, if we return, and cross the bridge, if we give him our allegiance, if we walk in the relationship he has set us in, he views us in the identity he gave us before creation. We are also a beloved son, and he is pleased with us.

Our identity is who God designed us to be. Our identity is who God proclaims that we are.