Born Identity

I grew up in the church and I still love singing the old hymns.  However, I remember so many songs that talked about the "worm as I" and "sinner such as I".  It seemed the majority of the sermons I heard talked about how bad I was and I how I needed to do better.  I would love to tell you that I have escaped all the feelings that those messages created.  However, I sometimes find myself in this "bad me" mentality and fall back into this religion of performance.   It is like we have to tear ourselves down in order to make grace look better.  We sing "just as I am" but that song changes when we leave the alter.  Just as I am is no longer good enough.  We need to clean up our act or what we experienced was not real.

In his book Epic, John Eldredge describes the problem accurately, "I dearsay we've heard a bit about original sin, but not nearly enough about original glory, which comes before sin and is deeper to our nature" (p. 50).  I love this.  It is such a great reminder that we are not created in Satan's image.  We are created in God's image.  We are glorious creations of our Father. We are not worms.  Yes, our relationships with God, people, and the earth are damaged by sin.  However, this is not our true identity.

I think about the movie, Lion King, Simba has disobeyed.  His choice leads to death.  He is running from his mistake.  Simba has forgotten the moment when his father lifted him up and declared his identity to all of the kingdom.  His identity had not changed.  He has merely bought into the lie that his choice has become his identity.  His father's view of him has not changed.  His father still thinks of him as a king.  There is that beautiful scene when Simba bends down and takes a second look in the water and notices his reflection.  He realizes for the first time, he reflects his father's image.

It is the same for us.  Our Father did not hold us up to declare his love for us and pronounce our identity to the world.  He held himself up on a cross and declared his love for us and identified us as his children.  We our heirs of the kingdom.   We are image bearers of our Father. You might have focused in on your sin and forgotten your true identity, but I guarantee you, that your Father has not forgotten.

Yes, it is important to remember that we are fallen and need Jesus.  It is equally important to remember that we are born to reflect our Father's glory and image.