Losing Labels, Gaining Christ: A True Identity that Lasts

I’ve talked about identity once before, but in this season, God is bringing it back to my attention. We don’t think about it often but we love belonging and feeling included. We enjoy being members of groups and classified. If you think about our day-to-day, we can probably name several things we are members of. For example, we have identified ourselves within our careers, political parties, relationship titles, what we eat, and even if we are team iPhone or team Android. Anytime there is an opportunity to be in groups and identify with something we cling to it.  

At its surface level, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being a member of a particular group. Nothing wrong with considering yourself a vegan. Nothing wrong with considering yourself an influencer, an entrepreneur, a wifey, or a corporate girly! But the danger comes when it begins to build a sense of pride within us. This pride usually creeps in slowly and discreetly, just like all things of the enemy. Pride wants to make us feel superior to others. 

To fear the Lord is to hate evil.  I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.  Proverbs 8:13 

When we allow our identity to be rooted in something other than Christ, we allow that title to rule our lives. We become more committed to keeping and maintaining the status that the title gives. It begins the cycle of idolatry as we give it permission to dictate how we make decisions. We fear doing anything that could disrupt or distort our allegiance to these things.  But our identity as Christ's people should be the hat we wear that guides our decisions.

The reason I believe the Lord had this topic heavy on my heart again is because he needed to work some things out of me.  Recently, I realized that at some point in my journey of transitioning careers, I became attached to my #techgirl title. I loved what I did, I loved the community, the comradery. I had spent so much time trying to get there, that it felt like it was a part of me. While there is nothing wrong with being excited about your accomplishments and hard work, we cannot let them become the basis of our identity. Building our lives around these titles and cultural identifiers will eventually lead to disappointment because we are placing our worth on shifting sand, things that change overnight, and never fully satisfy.  

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Matthew 7:24-27 

When we continue to seek these things, we begin striving for the things of this world, seeking validation and burnout to keep up.  

As I step into this new season of my life, God revealed to me that I needed to "re-ground" my identity in Christ. He had to reveal my heart. He showed me how my attachment to the title and the career was keeping me from walking fully into the new season he was taking me. I was afraid to let it go.  I couldn’t understand the idea of how God would want me to walk away from something that I worked so hard to achieve.  How would I explain to others the fact that I no longer felt as though God was taking me in that direction? What if that door closed forever? As I would talk to people, I could feel the tension in my heart. I would choke up when they asked questions and the conversations were hard to have. I had to surrender that identity and release it to God.

Talking to other women recently, I realized we all struggle with this. We struggle with stepping into new seasons. We struggle with letting go of titles that bring us a sense of belonging, pride, and prestige. We know and sense that God might be calling us into something new, but it hurts to release our man-made titles and rest in the fact that our greatest identifier is the one Christ gave us. 

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8: 29-30 

God calls us loved. Chosen. Predestined. Royalty. We are his image bearers, created in his image. He called us all of these things before we could "do" anything. There was no work on our end that was done before He gave us this identity. He said we belonged before we even knew we wanted to belong. This is hard for us to grasp because we are so used to getting accepted into something based on performance. 

When we stand on this identity, we can trust his plans for our lives. We can loosen our grip on all of our worldly agendas and allow God to come in and use us for his purposes. There is no identity greater than being a child of God. Releasing labels and worldly titles allows us to recommit our loyalty and devotion to God. We can walk in His identity and follow where He is taking us.  

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 

No matter what season or task God calls us to, we are still the apple of His eye. No matter what earthly titles we attain, our true identity was given by Christ.  We can rest in knowing that He calls us: 

 Friend ( John 15:15) 

An heir (Romans 8:17) 

A part of Christ’s Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27) 

An ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) 

Chosen. Adopted. Forgiven (Ephesians 1:4-7) 

His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) 

Seated in Heavenly places. (Ephesians 2:6) 

A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) 

Victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57)