As believers we have to continue to surrender our lives to the will of our Father. The more we submit the more we become like Him. We ought to encourage each other to let go of our comforts, habits, and even our personalities for the glory of God. We can get in the way of our true identity when we settle for our earthly reality. There are some societal norms and cultural experiences that are acceptable to mankind but are repulsive to God. Here are 3 ways to know if your identity is matching up to who God created you to be.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
1. You challenge your personality
We’ve been on earth long enough to settle for personality traits that go against the fruit of the Spirit. Declaring you’re not a morning person is NOT of God. It may seem like a small and seemingly trivial declaration but at the heart of it you’re saying, “I’m mean in the morning and I don’t really care who it bothers or hurts.” This gives us permission to be carnal, we’ve literally selected a time of day for carnality within our Kingdom lives to be anti-God! As we get more and more comfortable with the idea of making excuses for bad behavior, our personalities can ruin our witness. As we believers live spirit first our very personalities should be fruits of the Spirit of God, and not the sum of emotions that depend on whether or not we’ve had our morning coffee.
“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” Mark 1:35
2. You challenge your habits
The world has embraced kingdom principles without giving God the credit. Most millionaires, successful marriages, and thriving businesses that are unsaved are blessed because they’ve adopted God’s way of thinking. Rising early, clearing clutter, and moments of quiet are in just about every business book as keys to successful living but, they are pulled from the Word of God. The words of wisdom from the book proverbs and the words of Jesus have been monetized on the shelves of Barnes and Noble but often rejected by Kingdom Citizens. We must change our habits! Our habits will bear fruit in every season if they are based on kingdom principles. We can no longer settle for routines that don’t get us closer to God’s original for our lives; to bring Him glory.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9
3. You challenge the company you keep
As loving and compassionate people of God it’s important to know that demonstrating God’s love doesn’t make everyone a friend or confidant. There are those we minister to in obedience to God, and those we confess our sins to in hopes of being edified and corrected. The company you keep says a lot about who you are. Yes, Jesus spoke to prostitutes and thieves, but they weren’t his besties inviting Him to the next party. Jesus’ love ministered to the broken hearted and the lost but, when it was time to pray, to hear from God, He did it alone or took a few disciples with Him. Do our friendships reflect our own identity as believers?
It’s not hard to get caught up in the laws and shaky principles of mankind. God gives us the blueprint to who we are, and we are created to look just like Him! What is and isn’t God’s will for our lives isn’t hard to decipher; Jesus is the map.