To Encourage You

Joshua 4:8-10 “And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.  And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.”

Identity politics: it’s everywhere we look today, i.e., people who “identify” as one thing or another, regardless of what they might truly be.  Perhaps the most obvious example is the transgender movement.  Seemingly overnight there are thousands of people who, regardless of the sex of their birth, have chosen to “identify” as the other sex. There are even those who identify themselves as “non-binary,” i.e., they don’t want to be identified exclusively with EITHER sex. Then there’s the case of the former president of the NAACP who was living life as an African-American.  Yet it turns out that she actually had two white parents.  Her defense was that she had made the decision to “identify” as black.  It’s all so confusing.  To many, it makes little sense.  So many aren’t satisfied with who they are and so they yearn to be something of someone else.  Where’s this all coming from? What’s the source of such inner turmoil in so many lives?  

Well, like anything else that really matters, perhaps we can find an answer in the pages of God’s Word.  Might I suggest one, albeit unlikely, place we can look is in the account above from Joshua 4. It’s from the story of the crossing of the Jordan River as Israel is about to enter into the Promised Land.  In the process of this crossing, God had the nation do some very peculiar things involving stones.  With these actions He wanted a memorial to be fixed deep in their minds. First, the people were to take 12 stones, one for every tribe, and set them down in the midst of the Jordan River.  When the water was released to flow again, these stones would be completely covered over.  As symbols of the nation of Israel, these stones would be a picture of their death (for they would surely have been dead, if they, rather than the stones, had been under that water).  But then 12 stones were also to be taken up out of the Jordan, and placed in a heap on dry land. It was a symbol of a people that had passed through the waters of death unto life on the other side.  Both symbols were to be part of the nation’s identity. But they ultimately pointed to something else, something that every Christian can, wonderfully, identify with. 

In Romans 6, Christians are told that when Christ died, we died WITH HIM.  We are also told that when He arose from the grave, we rose WITH HIM.   It’s all explained to us in the following words: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. . . So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Notice how it uses the words “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  It all points back to those stones in the midst of the Jordan – a picture of the people dead to sin; those on the other side – a picture of a people alive to God in Christ Jesus.  It’s a wonderful picture of the identity every Christian has – an identity with Christ in His death, and an identity with Him in eternal life.  Here we have a God-ordained identity that turns the identity politics of this world on its head.  

So many people are dissatisfied with who they are.  They look at themselves and see things they don’t like.  At the root of it all is the sin that lies deep in every human heart.  The Bible puts it this way “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  When, in God’s grace, a person realizes this, a holy dissatisfaction arises within them.  But it’s not enough to be dissatisfied.  Without God, all manner of self-effort may arise to make us something else – but that “other thing” that one might identify with is never the answer to the trouble within.  But there IS an answer. There is another identity that God would have us to realize and that He, in His grace and mercy, has made possible for anyone who will believe. It’s called being “born again.” It’s made possible by confessing that we are sinners, and putting our faith in the death of Christ for that sin. It’s in this faith that we are enabled to identify with the Savior of the world both in His death for our sin, and His resurrection to newness of life.  And wonderfully, it’s not something we make up. It’s not a pretend thing. It’s not going against every law of nature by calling ourselves something we are not. No, this identity with the Son of God is based on eternal Truth. It’s a supernatural thing that is made possible by the very power of God.  

So, who are you? Have you seen yourself through the eyes of God? Have you realized that you are a sinner, and in need of a great transformation in your life? If so, it’s by God’s grace that you are seeing this, and it’s by His grace that you can become something else.  You see, God’s in the business of turning sinners into saints and turning our image from that which has fallen far short of the glory of God into that which is the very image of Christ! 

Praise His name!