The Weight of your Identity in Christ
“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Romans 14:8
Interpretation/Reflection:
This verse speaks to me of God’s lordship and authority over His people. And for us, Christians, there is no greater joy than resting in the fact that we belong to the Lord and are eternally captives of God’s love (Romans 8:38–39).
On Monday morning, I saw a friend’s post regarding his self-published children’s book, “Redeemed.” It talked about God’s greatest act of love, sending His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from the wages of sin, which is death, in a simple and easily understandable picture storybook. It was a short and exciting read.
The message of the book was: God created us because He wanted us to be with Him. And like a doting parent who cherishes every moment with their child, God, too, wants us to be in fellowship and in a relationship with Him for the rest of eternity. This, though, would not have been possible at the beginning because man had fallen into sin.
And because God is a righteous and a loving Father, He made a way to restore our right, as His creation, to form a relationship with Him, and Jesus Christ. His son, was His payment to redeem us (John 3:16). The only thing we need to do now, is to accept God’s selfless gift of love, and to offer our lives to Him, so that we may fully enjoy the benefits of having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
I remembered this small detail in relation to the verse I wanted to share today because we sometimes forget our positions in Christ, or worse, we take for granted what God had done for us to be called His own.
This verse speaks of God’s authority and sovereignty over all, including His promises that whosoever He welcomes to His Kingdom, must not forget what they are called to do in this (temporary) life.
Application:
This verse reminds me not to get lost in my inner struggles for peace and constant rationalization of why things are or aren’t. What Christ did for me on the cross is enough reason to cease struggling and to find comfort in God’s promises, fully knowing that He is in control of everything and my soul is secured in Him, no matter what happens in this life.
My prayer is that we allow ourselves to become channels of God’s grace and blessings so that more people will also experience the joy and peace that come with our new identities in Christ today!