Who We Are In Christ

How does it feel to be a child of the Most High God; to be made on purpose by the Creator Himself? To be chosen to be born for this very time in history and to have a specific purpose?

Next time you’re at the altar beating yourself up about how disappointed in us He must be, remember that you are no surprise to the one who created you. He made you just the way you are and has a desire to be in relationship with you for eternity.

Just imagine that God loved you even before the world was created AND even before you were born into this world. Ephesians 1:4 (NLT) says that, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” Yikes!!....without fault??!! That’s right, and that begins the story of ‘Who We Are In Christ’.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”-Ephesians 2:10 The first thing that comes to our minds is like Paul in Romans 7 where he is struggling with sin and the flesh, and says the very things he wants to do he can not do!

2 Timothy 1:9 says that, “…..He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” Our Father knew that we would struggle with sin and the flesh as Paul did, so He sent us a ‘way out’, a final sacrifice for our sin so we could be in relationship with Him. That ‘way out’ is Jesus Christ himself. God loved us so much that He not only made us but made a way for us to be pure and holy in His sight through Jesus’ sacrifice.

The fact that we don’t realize the depth of the love God really has for us is probably one of the biggest reasons we are insecure, unsure, have feelings of lack, of not being good enough, of being incomplete and roaming through life seemingly without purpose or direction. As many have said, we’re trying to fill the ‘God shaped’ hole in our lives with all kinds of things except God.

The first step in realizing God’s love for us is seeing ourselves as God sees us through Christ rather than how we perceive ourselves. If you’ve been ‘born again’, you are now a new creation! 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 21 explains, “……This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

We are now the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus!! We owe him a debt of gratitude. It is only because of Him and His love for us that He gave up His life for us so we might live and be able to have a relationship with the Father. As Ephesians 4:14-15 says, “….we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

”….God—who does not lie…” (Titus 1:2) tells us who we are, so that is who we are!! In order to get these things into our heads, we’ll have to confess them out loud over and over until we actually start to see the truth and know what is right about who we are in Christ! No matter what notion we have of ourselves, Romans 6:6-7 points out that our ‘old man’ was crucified with Him! “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”

“..have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:3-4.

1John 2:1-2 - “….I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”

Even though as we mature in Christ we fall over and over, we can still walk in confidence that through Jesus Christ our Lord, God can have a relationship with us. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” 1 John 1:9.

“You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15.

“For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 The sooner we can grasp that since our baptism into Him we have become united with Him, the sooner we’ll realize that we can live our lives victorious over sin and death as we were meant to live. He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities, shaming them with His victory over them so we could live a victorious life! We are free, we are well, and we are sinless all through Jesus Christ! The only thing that keeps us down is believing “the lies” from the Evil one. The one thing that terrifies Satan is that we’ll realize our full potential in Christ Jesus and take our rightful place with Him right now as over-comers!

We should feel powerful living strong, aggressive, bold lives knowing who we are in Christ. Because Christ died for us and rose again, sits at the Father’s right hand, and makes us joint heirs with Him, we have everything we need to continue to carry out His work here on earth until He comes again. We are even told to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8.

Because we have a God of grace who only looks at us through Jesus’ blood and sacrifice, we can stand confidently knowing that even as we battle our flesh day after day, we can have fellowship with Him! As we start partaking in our actual inheritance we can begin trusting God for what we need and devote our time to what others need, carrying out Jesus’ ministry here on earth. (Colossians 1:12)

God’s grace is a free gift to us through Jesus Christ and there’s no way to work for it or earn it. Old things have passed away. We’re done with double mindedness; we are new creatures. No more guilt and shame; no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Consider your self to be dead to the power of sin (Romans 6:11) and start living the victorious life Jesus Christ paid for us. Sin is no longer our master; instead we live under the freedom of God’s grace!!!

Jesus said in John 17:17-24 – “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth. I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

Our Father now looks at us and knows us as WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST!! He now sees us as we were created to be, by Him, even before the earth was created. We continually ask for forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord and God continues to see us spotless under the blood of Jesus!

We should walk in victory not condemned, as the Holy Spirit continues to teach us how to be more and more like Him!! It is not a new nature we have been given. We are a new creature; a completely different person; a powerful soul complete in Him and equipped with everything we need for a victorious life because of His grace! We no longer live by our flesh but walk in the Spirit. “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:4.
You’re just a prayer away from holiness in God’s eyes through Christ Jesus. We must think of ourselves as God sees us in order to walk in the authority and boldness that he desires of us. If we see ourselves as He see us through Christ we’ll be able to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons! We are to live victorious lives taking care of each other as God our Father takes care of us! We must see ourselves as He sees us through Christ in order to accomplish the plan and purpose He has for our lives! -------Shalom, Marvin & Diana

Thanks to ChristianPhotos for use of the graphic