“In Christ”: the Confession of One’s Identity

“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ––Oscar Wilde

The world will ask who you are, and if you do not know the answer, the world will tell you.” Carl Jung

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free” ––Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“This above all: to thine own self be true” ––Willaim Shakespeare, Hamlet, Scene 3

            Some men struggle their whole lives with the search for personal identity. The inner voice asks, “Who do I need to become to find my real self? “Which path will lead me out of the cacophony of voices I daily hear that seek to direct my life into a place of peace and self-satisfaction?” “How can I be all that I want to be and know I can and should be?” “Where should I build the house of my life to find meaning and fulfillment in life?” Some end their lives in despair, feeling that they missed their chance in life. Others become important in the eyes of men but inside are empty. “Where can a soul find true wisdom?”

            Paul the apostle found that all wisdom is found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is in this wisdom that a person finds himself in the Savior that he finds the foundation of personal identity.    

            “In Christ” one finds eternal wisdom which brings us righteousness, holiness and redemption. We find ourselves––our God-given identify in being “in Christ” and thereby taking on the likeness of the One who has now become our everything.   

Let those who have experienced redemption’s grace confess:

I find my identity, my total being, as one who is “in Christ.” As I live in the atmosphere of redemptive grace I live out my God-given identity. Because of his outpouring of unmerited grace upon my life I find my identity by being lost in him. Being “in him,” his wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption has become my wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Because of my being united with him his sanctifying grace makes me daily more like him. It is in this process of purification that I find a growing understanding of my identity.  

I have no virtue in myself alone but find all virtue by finding myself “in him,” the One who loves me and the One I serve. It is a most precious gift––Christlikeness––that God daily bestows upon my life as a redeemed child of God.

By his mercy and grace, I live my life as one who has been crucified with the Savior and resurrected with my Lord. His death is therefore my death, and his life is therefore my life. In him all condemnation, including all guilt and shame, has been washed away—blotted out–– through the cleansing of his shed blood. I therefore find peace and assurance through my daily identification of one who is found “in him.”   

Being “in him” I long for him to live his life through me. Being “in him” his life flows into me, sustaining me, and empowering me, making my life fruitful. I live in his sanctifying grace as I as I find my identity as being one whose total self is lost in him.  

By mercy and love daily received, my “in him” identity governs all that I am; all that I think and all that I do. My personal identity is lost in his. Abiding grace enables me to find my real self as one who is rooted and grounded in him.

My personal ambitions have been put to death, longing only to do the will of the One who gave his all for me—the One in whom I now dwell. I live to honor him as a redeemed child of God.

Through his immeasurable grace, all my decisions and plans are based on my life’s core identity. That identity is a person who every moment of every day seeks to dwell in the person of our gracious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.