Unshakable Identity

“Jesus responded, ‘Just because I am the one making these claims doesn’t mean they’re invalid. For I absolutely know who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m going’” (John 8:14, TPT).

Jesus Christ came to show us the way: both the way to salvation, and the way to live out this life we’ve been given on Planet Earth. By studying the way He did it, we find out the way He means for us to do it. This is why Paul could say, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1, MEV). He had embraced a lifestyle of wholeheartedly imitating the Lord.

We, too, are to imitate absolutely everything that Jesus modeled for us. Let’s take a look together at our Scripture for today, above. What can we learn from His example here? Let’s lean in and listen with our hearts to Him saying, “For I absolutely know who I am…”

What confidence! What an unshakable sense of identity! Even in those moments where it was being questioned, He was unmoved.

He intends for us to live this way too.

Where did such sureness come from, then? We find out a few verses later:

“‘…What I say about who I am is true, for I am not alone in my testimony—my Father is the other witness, and we testify together of the truth.’” (v. 18).

Jesus’ sense of confidence was anchored into what the Father said about Him. He joined in with the Father, and vocalized His agreement with what the Father testified about Him. You and I are to do the same. If the Father says we are His beloved children on whom He lavishes His love (1 John 3:1), we are to vocalize our agreement with Him. “I am the cherished child of God, the object of His lavish love!” is to become the pattern of our mindset. It is to become what plays on repeat in our thoughts.

Jesus operated out of unshakable confidence as beloved Son from the outset of His ministry. At the very beginning, the Father decreed this identity over Him. We read about this occurring at Jesus’ baptism, before He had done even one good work for advancing the Kingdom. Before the Son had done a single thing to “earn” it, the Father proclaimed His belovedness:

“Then suddenly the voice of the Father shouted from the sky, saying, ‘This is my Son—the Beloved!  My greatest delight is in him.’” (Matt. 3:17, TPT).

I have no doubt that this was not an isolated occasion. Jesus must have received the Father’s affection and affirmation regularly during His times of prayer. In a human body, living a human life, He needed it, just like we do. How wonderful to realize that we, too, are Abba’s deeply loved sons and daughters, before we do a single thing to “deserve” it… and that He will regularly, eagerly tell us so, again and again!

We can receive His words of love every day into our hearts, defining who we are. We can then move into the activities of the day, operating out of the place of belovedness, of being the one He delights in. His Spirit-to-spirit communication will impart to us a profound confidence that no amount of life’s challenges could ever shake or steal.

Remember, Jesus lived His life to show us how to live ours. Let us ever drink in the Father’s tender affection, fierce devotion, and joyful praise of us. May His affirmation and words of truth over us be the foundation of our identity. May our sense of who we are as treasured children become unshakable… unshakable as that of the Lord whose example we follow each day.

*****************

What if a person’s sense of identity was profoundly injured by parents who belittled them constantly in childhood? How does Holy Spirit address that?