Identity Confusion

I got married in July of 2010. I made a commitment­– and with a few shorts words and three signatures, Jillian Walker became Jillian Castellano. I got myself a brand new name. And in addition to moving to the front end of “alphabetical order”, lots of other things changed too; my perspective, my attitude, my approach, my habits, my goals… I no longer had just myself and my own future to think about. I no longer had only one perspective to view things from. I had to abandon some of the ways I used to think and operate in order to accommodate for peace and grace in a wonderful new union.

(Totally worth it, by the way)

Sometimes, however, I find myself going back to some old ways of doing things. To having a selfish attitude, to forgetting to consider this new perspective, to returning to old habits that interrupt a peaceful marriage. I find myself forgetting even the simplest of all the changes: my new name. I’ll sign something “Jillian Walker” or introduce myself as “Jillian Walker”. At times, I forget who I am now. I forget that “Jillian Walker” is no longer who I represent; that I have a new name to represent this new chapter of my life.

When we accept Christ, we are given so much more than a new chapter. We’re given a whole new life (Romans 6:4)! When we make a commitment to live for Christ, we’re called to a new life; to abandon our selfish ways and adjust our goals and perspective to align with Gods. We are called bring glory to Him in all we do and spread the message of Christ. We must examine our motives and actions to see if their purpose is to serve ourselves, or serve God.

I was talking to a co-worker this week about the struggles of maintaining our Christian identity. We talked about how sometimes, life happens and we forget who we are now. We can get deceived by the media trying to tell us who we are, by other people trying to tell us who we are, or by the Devil using us to tell ourselves lies about who we are. And unfortunately, we find ourselves acting very unchristian in response to our identity confusion.

It can be difficult to remember who we are in Christ when we live in a society that so boldly claims ideas opposite to what we believe as truth. It can be difficult to live a new life in an area of the country with so few Christian resources. It can be difficult to live a new life when we have years of bad behavior, sin, and strongholds to unlearn.

Just like I had to unlearn many things from the way I used to operate in order to have harmony in a new relationship with my husband, we have to unlearn old habits and block out many things this world throws at us in order to maintain our new identity in Christ. We need to study God’s Word and listen to His truth tell us exactly who we are in Him…

We are forgiven (Ephesians 1:7-8)

We are made clean (Isaiah 1:18)

We are children of God (John 1:11-13, 1 John 3:1-3)

We are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)

We are salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)

We are conquerors (Romans 8:37)

We are chosen (Ephesians 1:4-6)

We are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)

We are the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2, Isaiah 54:5, Isaiah 62:5)

We, sisters, are beautiful (Psalm 45:10-11)

May we remember who we are in Christ this week, may be live for Him and bring glory to him in all we do.

Be blessed this week,

Jill