Five Truths: Truth 2 - Identity

 

Identity

We receive our dignity from God. We also receive our identity from God. Our identity is not our
earthly lineage. We do not receive our personal value from worldly things. We have been created
by the God that was in the beginning is now and will be forever. We were created for eternal life
with God. We are first and foremost a member of God's family and Kingdom.

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ...you have received a spirit of
adoption. When we cry, 'Abba, Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we
are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ..." Romans
8:14-17

We are children of God and we are created to inherit his heavenly Kingdom. When God created
man and woman, he called them "good." When he created you, he called you good, too. We have
his goodness in our hearts and we have a heart that knows and cries out for the Lord. We are his
children, and if we are God's children, then we are heirs to the King. That's our identity!

Too often we seek to create our own identity because we do not know our value and purpose.
We seek to create our value through worldly things such as success, achievements, wealth, and
reputation. We are not these things! Our value, our entire identity is in God as his children. We
can do nothing to enhance our identity before God because we are his children and he loves us all
equally. He gives different gifts to different people to be used for building his Kingdom, and he calls
some to greatness for him and others to lives of simplicity, but we are all equal.

Therefore, do not chase worldly things that inflate your ego and false image of your own self worth.
That is not who you are. You are the good that God created you to be as his child for his Kingdom.
Seek your identity in Christ. That is who you are.  “It is not wrong to desire greatness, but our
greatness must reside in our passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ and our desire to share it with
others” (The Catholic Faith & Family Bible page 1367).