Cleaning the Lens

Our behavior is related to our identity, and our identity is a product of the lens that we are using to examine ourselves. In the last blog, I introduced us to the three main lenses that create in us a false identity. Seeking to define who we are based on what we have, the things we do, or what people are thinking about us.

So often in my life in Christ, I've gotten trapped in battling behaviors. Fighting the losing battle to make myself look better. Perilously close to becoming a white washed tomb. But to really overcome, to really take part in the life of Christ and his suffering, our identity must be in Him. That is a process that first requires cleaning the lens, looking at ourselves through the gospel lens or the lens of Christ.

One of the most common examples I have from my experience in ministry and the academic world is from the life of single people. Many singles find their identity in singleness. Said another way, their identity begins to be defined by what they do not have, a spouse. So now their actions are based on this perceived hole in their identity. This makes it easier to compromise beliefs or put themselves in harmful situations and relationships. All in the name of being complete (remember Jerry Maguire?). Filling the perceived lack.

If not what I have, the things I do, or what people think of me, then what?

Here is the gospel lens; statements God makes about our identity. This list was given to me, so if I missed any, don't hesitate to let me know.

1. I have been healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
2. I am the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13)
3. I am the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)
4. I am commissioned to make disciples. (Matthew 28:19, 20)
5. I am a child of God. (John 1:12)
6. I have eternal life. (John 10:27)
7. I have been given peace. (John 14:27)
8. I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ’s life. (John 15:1, 5)
9. I am clean. (John 15:3)
10. I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
11. I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit. (John 15:16)
12. I have been given glory. (John 17:22)
13. I have been justified…completely forgiven and made righteous. (Romans 5:1)
14. I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life. (Romans 6:1 – 6)
15. I am a slave of righteousness. (Romans 6:18)
16. I am free from sin and enslaved to God. (Romans 6:22)
17. I am free forever from condemnation. (Romans 8:1)
18. I am a son of God; God is spiritually my Father. (Romans 8:14, 15; Galatians 3:26; 4:6)
19. I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing his inheritance with Him. (Romans 8:17)
20. I am more than a conqueror through Christ, Who loves me. (Romans 8:37)
21. I have faith. (Romans 12:3)
22. I have been sanctified and called to holiness. (1 Corinthians 1:2)
23. I have been given grace in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:4)
24. I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
25. I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
26. I have been given the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
27. I am a temple…a dwelling place…of God. His Spirit and His life dwells in me. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
28. I am united to the Lord and am one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)
29. I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 7:23)
30. I am called. (1 Corinthians 7:17)
31. I am a member of Christ’s Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30)
32. I am victorious through Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)
33. I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21; Ephesians 1:13, 14)
34. I am led by God in triumphal procession. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
35. I am to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 2:15)
36. I am being changed into the likeness of Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
37. Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15)
38. I am a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
39. I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19)
40. I have been made righteous. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
41. I am given strength in exchange for weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
42. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ’s life. (Galatians 2:20)
43. I am a son of God and one in Christ. (Galatians 3:26, 28)
44. I am Abraham’s seed…an heir of the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
45. I am an heir of God since I am a son of God. (Galatians 4:6, 7)
46. I am a saint. (Ephesians 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 1:2)
47. I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. (Ephesians 1:3)
48. I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
49. I was predestined…determined by God…to be adopted as God’s son. (Ephesians 1:5)
50. I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13)
51. I have been redeemed and forgiven, and I am a recipient of His lavish grace.
52. I have been made alive together with Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)
53. I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven. (Ephesians 2:6)
54. I am God’s workmanship…His handiwork…born anew in Christ to do His work. (Ephesians 2:10)
55. I have direct access to God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18)
56. I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God’s family. (Ephesians 2:19)
57. I may approach God with boldness, freedom, and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
58. I am righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:24)
59. I am a citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now. (Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 2:6)
60. I am capable. (Philippians 4:13)
61. I have been rescued from the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the kingdom of Christ. (Colossians 1:13)
62. I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been cancelled. (Colossians 1:14)
63. I am blameless and free from accusation. (Colossians 1:22)
64. Christ Himself is in me. (Colossians 1:27)
65. I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built up in Him. (Colossians 2:7)
66. I have been made complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10)
67. I have been spiritually circumcised. My old unregenerate nature has been removed. (Colossians 2:11)
68. I have been buried, raised, and made alive with Christ. (Colossians 2:12, 13)
69. I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life. (Colossians 3:1 – 4)
70. I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life. (Colossians 3:4)
71. I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved. (Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
72. I am a son of light and not of darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:5)
73. I have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
74. I have been saved and set apart according to God’s doing. (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5)
75. Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call me brother. (Hebrews 2:11)
76. I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling. (Hebrews 3:1)
77. I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His life. (Hebrews 3:14)
78. I have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
79. I have been born again. (1 Peter 1:23)
80. I am one of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house. (1 Peter 2:5)
81. I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. (1 Peter 2:9, 10)
82. I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live. (1 Peter 2:11)
83. I am an enemy of the devil. (1 Peter 5:8)
84. I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I am a partaker of God’s divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)
85. I am forgiven on the account of Jesus’s name. (1 John 2:12)
86. I am anointed by God. (1 John 2:27)
87. I am a child of god and I will resemble Christ when He returns. (1 John 3:1, 2)
88. I am loved. (1 John 4:10)
89. I am like Christ. (1 John 4:17)
90. I have life. (1 John 5:12)
91. I am born of God, and the evil one…the devil…cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18)
92. I have been redeemed. (Revelation 5:9)