NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a NEW CREATION” – Galatians 6:15

God would have us declare and stand up to the reality of our NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a NEW CREATION” (Gal.6:15). This reaffirms Paul’s similar assertion to the Corinthians: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God…” (2 Cor. 5:17-18a). The essence of our new identity is that “ALL THINGS have become NEW,” and all of these are of God! No flesh can take the glory for our New Identity!

I can declare with humility, but also with all assurance and confidence, that God has given me a New Identity in Christ.

Instead of Infidel, I am called Christian: “…And the disciples were first called CHRISTIANS in Antioch” (Acts 11:26b).

Instead of Lost, I am called Found: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was LOST, and is FOUND…” (Lk.15:24a). All that was dead in me have been made alive in Christ! I was lost, but Christ found me and is making me into the best that I can be. God never leaves us as He found us: “He found him (Jacob) in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye” (Dt.32:10).

Instead of Unbeliever, I am called a Believer: “And BELIEVERS were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14).

Instead of Rejected, I am called Accepted: “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us ACCEPTED in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). This echoes the kind of Mercy that God showed Israel of old: “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations” (Isa.60:15); “And they shall call them, The Holy People, The redeemed of the LORD: and you shall be called Sought Out, A City not Forsaken” (Isa.62:12).

Instead of Enemy, I am called Friend: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you FRIENDS, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (Jh.15:15).

Instead of Unrighteous, I am called Righteous: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Instead of Sinner, I am called Saint: “…to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be SAINTS, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1Cor.1:2b).

Instead of Darkness, I am called Light: “For you were once darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the Lord. Walk as children of LIGHT” (Eph.5:8). The Lord Himself calls us, His followers Light: “You are the LIGHT of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt.5:14). Paul reiterates: “You are all SONS of LIGHT and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness” (1The.5:5).

Instead of Alien, I am a Citizen of God’s Kingdom: “That at that time you were without Christ, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph.2:12-13). “For our CITIZENSHIP is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil.3:20).

It's time for us to stand up and be who God says we are; and time to let the devil know that we know who we are in Christ. Then when he tries to attack us, we can throw our shoulders back and say, “Don't mess with me. I'm identified with Christ!” Going forward, that’s my stance in Christ!