You Are Valuable to God: How to Walk in Your New Identity
Before Christ, I was a slave to sin and to this world. My life lacked purpose and meaning, and I was on the road to death rather than life. I desperately needed a Savior – Jesus Christ – to rescue me.
It’s such a simple concept, yet I feel that over the years the enemy has distorted this message. Many of us are walking around holding on to the labels of who we used to be (sinners, slaves, etc.) instead of stepping into who God intends for us to be.
Yes, before Christ I was incapable of anything resembling righteousness… but the key word here is “was.” I was incapable. I was living for my own pleasure instead of living for God. And I was doomed to death as the result of my sin. But in Christ, these things are no longer true.
Many Christians have bought into the lie that we are nothing – that we are worthless. But let me ask you one question: Would Jesus have died on the cross for someone who wasn’t valuable to Him?
We are valuable to God – so much so that Jesus died so that we could be made part of God’s family.
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
When we surrender our lives to Christ, we are transformed into the people God created us to be. In the words of Jesus, we are “born again.” Essentially, we take on a new identity. We are no longer defined by this world, rather we are defined by God.
Here’s what God has to say about you:
- You are a child of God. (John 1:12)
- You are royalty. (1 Peter 2:9)
- You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That means the very Spirit of God lives in you! (1 Corinthians 6:19)
- You are an heir of God’s glory. (Romans 8:17)
- You have access to God and can boldly approach Him. (Ephesians 3:12)
- You have been blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:3)
- You are a citizen of heaven. (Philippians 3:20)
- You are a victorious conqueror. (Romans 8:37)
- You are God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)
- You are an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
These verses barely scratch the surface when it comes to our new identities in Christ. When we are born again into this new life, the labels of this world no longer carry any weight. (Galatians 3:28) The only labels that matter are the labels that God gives you as His child. (And trust me, they are all good!)
So why do we walk around defeated? Why do we choose to define ourselves as sinners, works in progress, unworthy, etc.?
Instead of stepping into our new identities, we often hold on to who we used to be.
I have to wonder if in our attempt to be humble as believers, we have gone to the extreme of denying our new identities in Christ. Our minds understand what the Bible says regarding how much God loves us and how valuable we are to Him, but for some reason we have trouble accepting it in our hearts. We struggle to walk in it.
The truth is that God doesn’t want us to walk around defeated. He desires for us to be victorious. He wants us to live out our God-given purposes so that we can further advance His kingdom.
The enemy will do all that He can to keep us from stepping into the new identity we have in Jesus Christ. If he can make us think that we are still somehow slaves to sin, we become ineffective in our faith.
- No longer a slave… you are set free in Jesus’ name.
- No longer an orphan… you have been born again as a child of God.
- No longer a sinner… you are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
- No longer weak and incapable of righteousness… you are strong in the Lord and have been made righteous by your faith in Jesus.
As believers, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives inside each and every one of us. (Romans 8:11) It’s time to start living out this truth.
Yes, we understand what Christ saved us from, but it’s time to move forward. We were once sinners; but because of Jesus, we are now holy and without fault.
It’s time to step into our new identities in Christ Jesus.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. – Ephesians 1:4-6 (NLT)
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