Identity

Conversation #2

This is the second entry in the Conversations and Question series. In each entry, we share questions or comments shared by people either on the website or during conversations and meetings, by providing expanded responses. Although we respond to every email and comment, these will also include additional information that will be helpful. As always, the hope is that this will be another part of the continuing conversation regarding the process of discovering our identity.

The Question

The interesting point about our question for today is that it came up two times in the same week, in two very different situations.

The first time the question was asked was while we were doing training on Redeeming Identity at a church. To provide a foundation for future identity discussions, the focus of the training was on the importance and our definition of identity. After going through the 4P’s of our definition of identity, one of the staff asked this important question.

The second time we were asked the question was at a dinner with friends. Within our group of friends are believers that come from very different backgrounds. During our time together, one of our friends also asked the same question.

When you hear the same question multiple times, it means that it is a question that needs to be answered. Here is the question, “Is transformation of our identity something God does or something we do?”

The simple answer to the question is: Yes. Both God and we participate in the process of transforming our identity.

The Boy from Ethiopia

There was a three-year old boy in my wife’s preschool class that was born in Ethiopia. A family from central Texas adopted him and registered him in my wife’s class so he could socialize around other kids and get a head start at learning for school.

While living in the orphanage in Ethiopia, he learned some habits to help him survive. The first day in my wife’s class, his adopted mother told her that she needed to watch out for some of these habits, since he was still doing them, though he had been with them for several months. When he would take a drink of water, even from his own water bottle, he would swallow some, but also keep some in his cheeks for later. During lunch time or after a snack, he would keep some of his food in his pockets to eat later.

When he started in my wife’s class, he was living in a beautiful home in central Texas with everything that he needed or wanted. He no longer needed to keep water stored in his cheeks, because he could go to the faucet and get a glass of water whenever he wanted. There was no shortage of food in the home, where he was given multiple meals a day with snacks in between. Whatever he needed, his parents provided for him.

There were several times my wife found the little boy with cheeks full of water. She would show him where his water bottle was and remind him that he could get a drink any time he wanted. Only then would he swallow the water in his cheeks.

We Have Been Given Everything

Just like the parents of this little boy, at the moment that we are saved, God gives to us everything that we need to be the people that He has called and created us to be.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence… 2 Peter 1:3

The moment that the boy was adopted into his new family, he was granted access to a whole new way of living that he had never previously known was possible. He had a new family, which came with new relationships and a new name. Instead of living in the orphanage in Ethiopia, he moved into a home with a room and a bed that was all his own. He was provided with clothes so that he could wear clean clothes every day, which, as a little boy, he may not have fully appreciated. The parents made sure that he had access to an education that would provide him with a future full of possibilities. In fact, I remember seeing on social media recently that he was graduating high school, with the possibility of continuing on to attend college.

In a similar way, the moment we are saved, God grants us access to everything that we need to be who He created us to be. Everything that once was lost to us because of sin, God restores to us and more. He restores the relationship with Him that was lost. He brings us into a new family, the church, with new relationships. He gives us a new name, a new identity from which we can now live.

Who saves us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began… 2 Timothy 1:9

Hopefully, you can tell who the focus of the activity is, God. He is the one that saves us and then provides our new identity. He is both the initiator and the fulfiller of everything, even from before time began.

Even though it is very clear that everything that we have comes from God (1 Chronicles 29:14), God does not call us to be passive in this process.

Accessible but Not Accessing

Although this little boy was given access to everything that he needed, beyond what he could have imagined, he was not living like it. He had access to plenty of food, with multiple meals provided each day. He still hid food in his clothes and room, so that he would have access to the food later. Instead of living the new life that was given to him through his adoption, he was still living like an orphan.

We are much like this little boy. Through the salvation that God has freely given us, we have access to a whole new identity. But we do not daily live out of the overflow of our new identity. We have been called into something new and better, but we do not see the manifestation of it in our daily life.

We are called to be holy, separate, set apart. Yet, our life is much like everyone else’s.

We are loved and called to be loving. There are many times that we don’t feel loved and don’t feel like loving others.

We are called to be ambassadors of a new kingdom. We still are trying to live for our own little kingdoms.

Walking Worthy

We have been granted access to a new identity and a new life. The reason that we are not experiencing this new life is that we are passively waiting for God to do it to us or for us, but He is calling us to participate in the redeeming process.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue… 1 Peter 1:5

We are not passive receivers of this new life and identity. This process of transformation that we have been called into will take effort on our part. Although the faith that God gave to us was a start, we now need to see our transformation supplemented with virtue or arete, the new identity that God created for us. (See the article Pork Chops, Identity and Arete.)

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

God is working in us, but we are called to work in cooperation with him towards the goal of becoming the new identity that He created us to be. As He shows us those parts of our old identity that need to be put to death, we choose to submit to His will and design. As we sacrifice aspects of our old identity, putting them to death, He substitutes them with aspects from our new identity.

…we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12

He Will Do It

God has called us to be part of His kingdom. He has granted us access to everything that we need to experience the life that comes from the new identity that He has given to us. We need to take part in the redeeming process and make the choice to live into the new identity that He wants to give to us.

All of this is for His glory and the fulfillment of His purposes. Throughout the Bible, God speaks about our new identity as if it is already a truth, which it is from His perspective. He has promised that the transformation process that has been started here will be completed by Him in eternity. He will complete it.

We can wait for Him to complete it in eternity, but we would then miss the experience of living out of our new identity and all that comes with it in this life. Instead, God calls us…encourages us…commands us to participate with Him in the redeeming process and experience becoming who we were created to be now, for His glory and our good.