When you look at your ID card or Passport, what do you see ? Is there a stamp « Christian / Ambassador of Christ » anywhere ? Nope. But why ?
Well… We all have a name, physical traits, a citizenship and birthday we inherited from our parents or circumstances, all of which are ungoverned. But do we all have an identity in Christ ? Right now, no, not yet. As our identity in Christ is not some random detail we get « automatically » at birth and that we have to put up with, whether we like it or not, ‘til the end of our life, is it ? No ! Compared to a name, physical traits, even the family and set of beliefs you end up growing with, we choose to be in Christ. We can see this in the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3 :16 : « For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but live forever ». The phrase I want to emphasize on is clear : « whoever believes in Him ». Though accessible to all, only those, through faith in Christ, possess it. It is not about a « forced legacy » of some kind, but about choosing God’s gift. Therefore, those who choose to accept this gift (of grace, that is…) won’t have the same fate as those who choose not. Will they ?
Another interesting thought, in my opinion, is that our ID marked with the word « Christian » somewhere would lead, to two things : one, it would sound like boasting, wouldn’t it ?! « Hey, look, I’m a Christian, I belong to God… Why don’t you ? », could be the message conveyed, by accident or intentionally. Didn’t Paul say : we should only boast about the Lord (Galatians 6:14, 2 Corinthians 10:17) ? If we were all perfect, okay, I’d see the use in revealing our identity. But the sad truth is, I saw through my own experience of things… That a lot of « non-christians » behave more like Christians than many « Christians » themselves. Thus leading to the next thought I want to share: in that writing down your identity in Christ would lead to having to write down a whole set of information different for every Christian, therefore unfair to write down the same way: the fruits of the spirit, each one of us either glorifying or shaming Christ through them, because of their development (or lack thereof), or leading to confusion as to what the word « holy », in this sense, mean; that the only difference between them unbelievers and us is : that Jesus lives in our heart. For the rest, we are still sinners ; which means we still make mistakes as anyone does.
No! Our identity in Christ shouldn’t be something people read about on us, or we’d be boasting or leading people to confusion so easily. On the contrary, for our identity in Christ to mean something, it should be something original that they see in us : the love of Jesus, a reflection of God’s two commandments. Which are : « Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbours like you love yourself» (Mark 12:30-31). If the fruits of the Spirit are developped enough… Then the stamp « Son/Daughter of God » may be made visible to them, by God Himself as He sees fit, through our actions and way of life demonstrating his Love for this world and not through some boring admin.
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