Overcoming an Identity Crisis

Alumnae of Oklahoma State University and Texas A & M are known as Aggies, and we Aggies wear the label proudly. But someone in the course of time began making up "Aggie jokes." Take this one for example:

An Aggie alum was driving through rural Texas when he spotted a strapping young 18-year old boy trying to row a boat through a plowed field. He was bent to the oars, sweat pouring from his face. The Aggie stopped his car and strode over to the fence where he hollered, "Hey! What are you doing out there?" To which the kid replied with a grin as big as Dallas, "I'm on my way down to Texas A & M to enroll." "You idiot!" the Aggie screamed, arms windmilling. "here some of us are trying our best to create a better image for A & M, and it's idiots like you who give us a bad name! If I could swim, I'd come over there and give you a whuppin'!"

I believe Satan has millions of Chris tians chained to the oars of such a boat. It's bow is headed in the right direction and, although, the people are struggling to row it, the boat never moves. The name of the boat is the "Who-Am-I?" Of all people, Christians should not be the ones living in an identity crisis, overwhelmed with guilt, thinking their Heavenly Father is ashamed of them, and believing that God's acceptance is based on how they act.

Let me illustrate your identity this way: A squirrel buries a pecan, and in time a pecan sprout appears. As this sprout becomes two inches thick, four inches thick, ten inches thick, does it get pecanier and pecanier? Of course not; once a pecan, always a pecan. It doesn't undergo a change in its identity -- birth determined that. It simply becomes an increasingly more mature pecan tree until the Lord calls it home to pecan-tree heaven.

The metaphor holds a truth for you. As you set your mind on your true identity in Christ and as you act like Christ expressing His life through to accomplish His wil l on earth, can you become more righteous than righteous? More forgiven than forgiven? Holier than holy? Absurd, You can't get more of any of those awesome characteristics.

• 1 John 4:17 says, "...as [Christ] is, so also are we in this world."
• 1 Corinthians 3:17 says, "...for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."
• Colossians 2:9-10 says, "...for in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete."

Your spiritual nature is Christlike. You are holy! You are complete! How can you improve on perfect? That is not to say that you are a perfectly finished product in Christ, but that you are a perfectly made product. That's who you are. That's your true identity as a Christian. So quit trying to row your way out of your identity crisis field, and believe what God says about you.