To Encourage You

Philippians 3:5-8 “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Who are you? What’s your identity?  Such a fundamental question, but one about which there is so much confusion today.  Are you a man or a woman?  Many people apparently aren’t sure.  Are you black or white?  Another question some appear to be confused about.  There are even people that “identify” as an animal of some sort.  So, how do we know?  Indeed, can we know who we really are?  And does it matter?  Can I say that I am whoever I want to say that I am?  Is there no standard?  And if I’m not satisfied with my identity, why is that? 

Well, in the verses above, the apostle Paul sets about to establish his own identity.  He identifies himself as a Hebrew, from the tribe of Benjamin.  He calls himself a Pharisee, schooled in the Law of God. And he also calls himself a “persecutor of the church.”  Elsewhere he goes into much more detail on this point, as in these words which he confessed to King Agrippa: “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (Acts 26:9-11).

But then he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus. It was there that he was blinded by a great light from heaven, while at the same time he received his first true spiritual sight.  It was there that he first saw himself for who he really was, a desperate and deceived sinner, and it was there that he first realized who Jesus really was, the one and only Son of God, the Creator, and the Savior of the World.  Paul was devastated by the things he saw.  He who had once identified himself “as to righteousness under the law, blameless,” now identified himself as who he really was, namely “the worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).  But the miracle of miracles was that the sinner Paul had been changed.  He had been born again. All things became new, including his very identity.  His old life and his old identity, which he once took great pride in, he now saw as nothing more that rubbish – something to be cast aside for the sake of knowing Christ and being a possessor of the righteousness of Christ and identifying with Him. 

So, what about you?  How do you identify yourself?  If you’ve never identified yourself as a sinner, you are still as Paul once was, in your sins, and without any real hope in this world.  If you are dissatisfied with your identity and want to go to any length to change it, what should you do?  It may just be that it is the sinful heart condition that is causing you such grief, but you’ve never put your finger on it.  But it is when we identify with our sinful condition, confess it, and turn away from our sins to Christ, that He will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  It is then and only then that we can be born again, made into a brand new person, with a new beginning, a new life, a new hope, all because of the one Who died that we might live.  As Paul said, after he had been born again, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  Paul, once a sinner, now a saint, now had an identity united with Christ for all eternity. 

So who are you?  A truthful, honest answer is the beginning of a new identity, an identify where “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  A new life with a new identify as a child of God, “And that is what we are!” marveled the apostle John (1 John 3:1), as he reflected on the most wonderful identity that is possible to be known by man!