Your Identity Reflection

Where is the place we go for feedback multiple times every day and trust that feedback implicitly? Before you make this question more difficult than it is, consider the obvious. We all check in with the mirror repeatedly and we believe what it reflects back to us about how we look. Unless we are using a distorted mirror, our trust is well placed.

But what if you lived in a house of distorted mirrors, for example ones that always made you look short and fat? You would develop a distorted view of your appearance, and no matter how hard you tried to lose weight, you would keep looking short and fat. You must make sure that your mirror is undistorted before you trust your reflection in it.

Using a mirror to see what we look like is usually straightforward. But where do we go to see who we are? Where can we get a reflection of our identity?

In this holiday season, there is no shortage of voices vying for our attention and assuring us that if we buy their products we can enhance our identity. The pressure to give the right gifts, set the perfect holiday table, have the picture-perfect family gathering, attend the best holiday celebrations and events is relentless. And often when the holidays are past we simply feel exhausted, not enhanced.

Amid all the holiday busyness, it can be easy to forget what the Christmas season is really about. Jesus Christ entered Earth 2,000 years ago, the way all of us do. He was born as a baby, totally helpless and dependent. He had to grow and learn how to walk, talk, take care of Himself, apprentice in a trade and discover who He was. He found His true identity reflected in His relationship with Abba God.

Many of us know that everything Jesus said and did was a reflection of the Father. Do you know that everything Jesus said and did is also a reflection of you? Unless you are looking at Jesus Christ, you will never see the reflection of your true identity. Other reflections will only leave you with a distorted sense of your identity.

There are two powerful ways you can learn to walk in your true identity. When you accept Christ’s free gift of love and reconciliation, the old, distorted reflections of your identity are crushed and fall away: “For you have died to your old life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). You are free to discover your true identity in Christ, for as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).

Second, you are now a citizen of a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The more you seek God's Kingdom and His righteousness, the more clearly and accurately your identity will be reflected to you. Give yourself the best Christmas gift ever this year. Determine that every day you will seek God's Kingdom and grow in understanding and living in your true identity reflection!

Come and be a part of our services this Sunday at 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM. I will be speaking on “Christmas, The Kingdom of God and Peace” as the second part of our December sermon series.