Serving out of your identity in Christ
Have you ever found yourself putting your identity in something other than Christ? I sure have it could be in my career, in my capabilities, my success, etc. Maybe you have found yourself in these places as well. What can we do about it and how do we shift our focus? Changing our focus to Christ as our identities take time and intentionality, but are possible. I am still working on changing my focus off of what I can do and onto Jesus. I want to encourage you to keep shifting your focus to Jesus!
Where are you placing your identity?
Something I have come to realize is that the thing we were putting our identities is short-lasting. We can change careers, our skillsets can change and even our ideas can change. What we once put so much effort to identify ourselves as is no longer true or accurate. There is a hope that we can put our identities in that is constant and not changing. That is in Jesus. Take some time to look at the areas that you have put your identity in and write them down. This a great place to surrender that to Jesus, and ask him to take the place of all those things.
What does it look like to serve out of your identity in Christ?
Serving out of a place and identity in Christ gives you the freedom to experience more peace and wholeness. Part of serving like Jesus is being set apart from what the world normally does. Jesus calls us to a way of life that the world doesn’t get. It requires us to let go of our selfish nature. The way Romans 13:14 TPT puts it “Instead fully immerse yourselves into the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and don’t waste even a moment’s thought on your former identity to awaken its selfish desires.” Serving like Jesus means slowing down, listening actively, and putting someone else above yourself. This can be hard in a world that is the opposite. Instead, the world calls us to be selfish, have people listen to us, and go fast all the time. But we can choose in our every day to follow Jesus’s example.
Work for God through your identity not just for people.
This process takes time. However, you will notice how our identities in Christ will shape the way we go about our daily routines. How that list you had Jesus takes those areas to mature you with humility. Your relationships, hobbies, and communities all get filled with him. I wanted to point out how it changes our work-life since that is a big part of our lives. Christ invites us to a bigger picture for work besides our 9 to 5’s or our businesses. In Ephesians 2:7 MSG says “Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” We get to be a part of this, so let’s not keep the focus on our limited perspective of what we have to do but instead what we get to do through Jesus. Later in Ephesians chapter 6, it tells us that what we do and where we work is not just for our earthly masters. But to instead remember that all that you do is for God. Let’s do it with excellence no matter what our environments may look like or those we work alongside. This is a great opportunity to show through our actions God’s transforming identities in us.
My question to you my friend is, will you serve out of your identity in Christ?
