Who I Am In Christ Series, part 2
Neil T. Anderson’s classic books Victory Over the Darkness and The Bondage Breaker were both published in 1990. That’s when he developed his “Who I Am In Christ” list.
That was 34 years ago, and yet there is still an appallingly high percentage of Christians who still don’t understand who they are in Christ. When you prayed that sinner’s prayer, you didn’t just receive a ticket to heaven. You also received abundant life here on earth. But too many Christians remain bound in pain from their past, addictive behaviors, fear and anxiety, depression and defeat.
For many years– decades, in fact– I was one of them.
I struggled with a thorn in my flesh which left me with uncertainty about God’s acceptance of me. I was insecure in my relationship with God. I feared that this one thing in my life would cause Him to reject me, and I feared losing my salvation. I went through years of frustration and despair, all because I struggled with who I was. Sadly, those closest to me, especially my wife, also suffered.
Does this sound like you, or someone you know? The purpose of this series is to help them find freedom, as I did. Change is possible, and it begins with your identity.
“Getting right with God always begins with settling once and for all the issue that God is your loving Father and you are his accepted child,” says Neil Anderson. “That’s the foundational truth of your spiritual identity. You are a child of God, you are created in His image, you have been declared righteous by Him because of your faith in Christ.”
The first of three categories in the “Who I Am In Christ list” is “I am accepted.”
Acceptance is a core emotional need. Everyone wants to feel that they belong. I didn’t experience this growing up, because I was bullied in school and had a poor relationship with my dad, who was an alcoholic. Rather than feeling accepted, I felt alone and rejected. Not having this core emotional need met in my childhood and adolescence led to a whole series of problems that extended into my adulthood.
When I came to Christ at age 18, I felt accepted for the first time in my life. I became involved in a Christian coffeehouse where I was (literally) accepted with open arms. My past didn’t matter to these newfound brothers and sisters, only my life in Christ. (I’ve written about this experience in a previous post, “The Secret Power of Hugs”.) Knowing that you belong is an exhilarating feeling. God never designed us to live in loneliness.
Dr. Anderson focuses on ten scriptures in this section of his list. I’ll explore the first five here, and the remainder in part 3 of this series.
God’s Child and Christ’s Friend
God’s Child and Christ’s FriendThe first truth we must establish in our hearts is “I am God’s child.”
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
There’s a popular expression, “We’re all God’s children.” It’s a nice thought– but it’s not true. We are all created by God, but that does not make us His children. Rocks are created by God also, but they aren’t His children. Neither are aardvarks or zebras or anything in between.
The Bible teaches that we become His children when we do two things: receive and believe God’s Son, Jesus. Romans 10:9 makes it clear: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” When you confess your sins and ask Jesus to be your Savior, you are adopted into God’s forever family. From that moment on you are God’s child, and He is your Father. Nothing in heaven or on earth will ever break that bond.
That’s the first step to being accepted by God. If you haven’t done that yet, I encourage you to do so. He will not turn you away.
I remember the first time I heard the song “The Family of God” by Bill and Gloria Gaither. I was at a Christian education conference, and it was sung at the first session. I remember hearing a resounding YES! in my spirit as I heard the chorus:
“I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood,
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod.
For I’m part of the family, the family of God.”
If you’re a born-again Christian, you are God’s child.
The second truth of your identity in Christ is I am Christ’s friend.
Jesus told His disciples in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Webster’s dictionary defines the word “friend” as “a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another.” When we trust in Jesus, He shares everything He’s received from God with us. God is His heavenly Father, and now God is our Father as well. To be a friend is to have a deeply personal relationship with another, and that’s how Jesus sees us.
But of course there are different levels to friendship. Jesus committed Himself totally to us when He died on the cross for our sins. But how committed to Christ are you? Are you a casual acquaintance or a close friend? Jesus desires to have an intimate relationship with you, to share with you all that the Father has shared with Him.
You will never be alone again. Jesus accepts you as His friend. How amazing!
Justified, United With The Lord, and One With Him
Justified, United With The Lord, and One With HimThe third truth of your identity in Christ is even more amazing: I have been justified.
To be justified is to be declared righteous, free from all guilt of sin. Romans 5:1 states, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Your sins, no matter how many and horrible, are washed away when you put your faith in Jesus to save you. Justified means just-as-if-I-never-sinned. We are clothed in His righteousness, and when God looks upon us, He sees His beloved Son. We no longer need to suffer guilt and shame. We are at peace with God, and we have the peace of God.
Peace is such a precious commodity. There’s so little of it in our world today, just as there was so little of it in Jesus’ days on earth. We are indeed rich if we can maintain our peace in the midst of life’s storms.
The fourth truth of your identity in Christ is I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
The scriptural basis for this is I Corinthians 6:17, “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”
What does that mean? There are two important observations here. The first is the use of the word “union.” This is a word that the Bible uses to refer to marriage, the union of a man and a woman in holy matrimony. This is the most intimate relationship possible on earth– and this is the kind of relationship Jesus has with us, a spiritual closeness that no earthly friend could ever achieve. In the biblical sense, marriage is a permanent relationship, so to be united with the Lord means you will never be separated from Jesus, He will always be there for you!
The second thing to note are the words “one with him in spirit.” This refers to the ongoing process of sanctification, becoming aligned with God’s purposes. The closer we get to Jesus, the more we become like Him. His thoughts and desires become our thoughts and desires.
During the Jesus People movement, we didn’t use hymnals or have lyrics flashed on a screen. Most of the worship songs we sang were scriptures set to music or simple choruses. One of the most popular ones was this:
“To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus,
All I ask is to be like Him;
All through life’s journey, from earth to glory,
All I ask is to be like Him.”
This chorus was a heartfelt prayer for many of those Jesus freaks, and it’s a prayer that God continues to gladly answer!
Bought With A Price, Belonging To God
Bought With A Price, Belonging To GodThe fifth truth of your identity in Christ is I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
I Corinthians 6:19-20 establishes this: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
Hollywood has filmed many depictions of Christ’s death on the cross. Some are reverent, while others are graphic. But none can begin to be as horrific as the actual event. Roman crucifixions were meant to be ghastly spectacles, maximizing the pain and shame of the condemned, prolonging their agony and serving as the sternest warning to onlookers. Jesus suffered all that for you. He paid the ultimate price for you.
The young woman who led me to the Lord said something that I have never forgotten. She told me, “If you were the only person on the face of the earth, Jesus still would have come and died on the cross for you, because He thinks you’re worth it.” That thought just blew me away. There I was, severely depressed and seriously contemplating suicide– and that’s what Jesus thought of me? How could I not give my heart, my life to Him?!
Once you accept Jesus as your Savior, you belong to God forever. You are eternally accepted.
So, to summarize: I AM ACCEPTED:
- I am God’s child
- I am Christ’s friend
- I have been justified
- I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit
- I have been bought with a price, and I belong to God
Are you ready to shout “Hallelujah!” yet? Do you see now how vital it is to know who you are in Christ?
And…we’ve only just begun! Neil Anderson identified 27 truths about the Christian’s identity in his “Who I Am In Christ” list– and we’ve only covered the first five! There’s so much more to come! (I don’t know about you, but I’m getting excited!)
If you don’t have a copy of the list yet, you can print it out here.
I would encourage you to make it part of your quiet time with God. Read it every day. And if a thought pops in your head like “That’s a lot of baloney,” just say, “Get behind me, Satan! This is God’s truth and I believe it!”
Your identity in Christ is a solid foundation to build your life upon. Don’t be a victim of Satan’s identity theft. Learn who you truly are in Christ, and you will indeed be living the transformed life.
Did this post encourage you? Leave a comment ~ share on social media ~ subscribe for more!
Related Posts: