Branch On The Vine

By: Alli Matthews

Let’s say you introduced yourself to someone right now. 

They say, “Nice to meet you! What makes you who you are?” 

How would you respond?

Okay, yeah, I know that’s not usually how it goes when you meet someone for the first time. Usually they ask, “What do you do?” or maybe, “What are your interests?” But do those things define us? Are those things our identity?

Our culture would probably say, “Yes, you are what you do. You are what you like. You are what you eat.” Those phrases are catchy, but are they true? 

We have two options: we can either create our identity – define what makes us who we are – or we can allow God to define who we are.

Personally, I have looked to many other places than the God of the universe to build my identity. I have looked to my academic achievement, keeping morals, the sport I played, the relationship I was in, the friends I had, the job I had, the church I went to, how I spent my time, my preferred political party, and many more things to define myself. 

I would say (in my mind), “Hi, I’m Alli. I’m a student. I’m a dancer. I’m a nice girl. I’m dating so and so. I’m friends with them. I’m a certified nurse aide. I’m a Christian. I’m a gym member.” And the list goes on.

To be honest with you, I’m at this weird place in my life right now. I don’t have a job. I’m no longer in school. I don’t have to study for anything. If people ask what I do for work, my initial response is, “I’m a stay-at-home dog mom.”

A lot of “what I do” has suddenly changed, but thanks to the Holy Spirit’s repetitive and gentle reminders, my true identity has never been more clear to me. 

I’m reading this book called The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out by Dan Stone and David Gregory. I highly recommend it so far. 

One thing the authors emphasize is our identity as followers of Jesus Christ. No matter what we do, if we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior, then we are given a new identity. Not only are all of our past, present, and future sins forgiven, but we are now a new creation in Christ. 

This truth is in 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 

From the moment you first gave your life to Jesus, whoever you were before died. You old self died on the cross with Jesus, and now, you’ve been given a new life in Christ. You are a new creation. 

The passage goes on to say, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

So as a follower of Jesus, not only are you a new creation, but you are also Christ’s ambassador (representative) and the righteousness of God. Nothing you can say or do can take this identity away from you. Nothing you can say or do can change who you truly are in Christ. 

Write this truth on your forehead. Get it in your mind. Imprint it on your heart. 

• I am a new creation in Christ.
• I am Christ’s representative.
• I am the righteousness of God.
• Nothing I do or say can change who I am because of God’s good grace.  

Knowing what makes you who you are changes how you live. 

Knowing you are already the righteousness of God through Christ, you don’t need to strive and struggle to become righteous. Knowing you are Christ’s representative, you don’t need to strive and struggle to be Christ-like. Knowing you are already a new creation in Christ, you don’t need to strive and struggle to be better or be different than you were before you lived for Christ. You already are. God said so. 

Now you might be wondering, “Wait, don’t I have to still obey God?” 

My answer to that question is this: you are free to stop struggling and striving to be righteous, to be Christ-like, and to be made new because if you have given your life to Jesus, He lives in you and through you.

You are free to allow Him to live through you. You are free to allow Him to be righteous, to be like Himself, and to be a new creation in you and through you. 

Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” 

The old you no longer lives. Instead, Christ is living in you and through you.

The Holy Spirit is going to help you want to obey God. All you have to do is be willing to allow Jesus to live through you.

Leave this blog post believing by faith that God sees you as righteous, a representative of Christ, and as good as new today because of Jesus living in you. Believe by faith that your true identity comes from God. Your Creator has told you who you are in Christ so you don’t have to go looking for that in all the wrong places like I did. Believe by faith that you are truly free from the struggling and striving because you have Christ living in you. 

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:36

References

Stone, Dan and Gregory, David. The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out. Authentic Media Limited, 2012.