Biblical Thinking, part 5: Our Eternal Identity in Christ!

“My Dear Wormwood, the real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian.  They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity.  What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in a state of mind I call “Christianity And.”  You know, Christianity and the Crisis, Christianity and Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing, Christianity and Psychical Research…Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with Christian coloring…. The use of Fashions in thought is to distract the attention of men from the real dangers…. The game is to have them running about with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood…. Thus, we make it Fashionable to expose the dangers of enthusiasm at the very moment when they are really becoming worldly and lukewarm…. But the greatest triumph of all is to elevate this horror of the Same Old Thing into a philosophy so that non-sense in the intellect may reinforce corruption in the will.…” – Screwtape

The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

In order to be consistent in Biblical Thinking and transformed in your person, we must solidify in our hearts and minds our identity.  This is important, because it is through the lens of our true eternal identity that we can hold properly everything we encounter in perspective.  A preacher once said that, “Christians today are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good!”  I don’t know who said that, but that is incorrect (Colossians 3:2).  The quote above from the Screwtape Letters demonstrates the devilish tactic that every Christian is susceptible to, and that is to compromise our true identity by setting aside the cause of Christ in exchange for a temporary cause in the name of Christ.

Where every Christian should seek to live a life of service to others, but in doing so, we must have discernment in holding every cause in perspective and seeking the eternal fruit in such encounters.  We do this in two ways: 1) First, we are intentional to remember our identity in Christ in the cause; 2) Second, we ask will achieving this cause bring more people into the kingdom of God, bring more people saving faith, or propel the proclamation of the gospel?  This is important because as salt and light in daily life, we seek to express the love of God in community.  If we cannot do these two things, then there is a good chance that in our hearts, we have elevated the cause to the level of the gospel.  For example, many Christian get wrapped around the axle on topics such as upholding traditional marriage, supporting politicians who identify as Christian, elevating civil religion to the status of Divine truth, and so on.  The problem is that you can easily find church-goers who can quote chapter and verse the legislation on marriage, political platforms or the Constitution of the United States, but would be lost if asked to quote scripture on marriage, divine sovereignty over government, or liberty according to the Bible.  So, we need to be mindful of seeking to cultivate eternal fruit in the endeavors we engage in, while seeing each endeavor through the lens of eternity.

Our Identity in Christ is the central truth of our existence, and therefore should drive all of our thinking to be biblically centric on a consistent, ongoing basis.  Simply stated, every temporal endeavor, every temporal task, and every temporal idea, should be thought of, described and pursued within the framework of our eternal identity, so that we do not surrender ground in our identity in Christ by becoming heavily invested in things with no eternal value.  This is not just doing ministry, charity or volunteer work, but also applies to our employment, our education, the marketplace, and any encounter that we engage.  One verse that can be helpful is 1-Corinthians 10:31 which instructs us to do all things to glory of God.  The practical application of this verse is to simply ask yourself in the moment if this activity, action or conversation is glorifying to God. When we invite God into those moments, we can be more sensitive to His Presence and be more likely to produce the eternal fruit that brings glory to God (John 15:5-8).  Now it is important to understand that this is not to be drudgery, but rather the mindfulness in daily life to do your best and invite God in.  It is important that we are aware that we glorify God in many things because we are His children.  When we do our job well at work which is serving your corporate community, when we take notes for someone who missed class, shovel snow for our neighbors, compliment someone on their weight loss, a new dress or hairstyle, or even giving someone a glass of water (Matthew 10:42).  These are all ways of loving God by loving people in a tangible way.  To develop this mindset and awareness of being intentional to bring glory to God begins to deepen our faith, reinforce our identity, and practice the presence of God. From this place, we strengthen our identity in Christ in daily life.

As God has expressed love in many ways throughout creation, so do we express love in many ways, whether it is the guiding love for our children, enduring love for our friends, prayerful love for our enemies, charitable love for the stranger in distress, the romantic love when you get to marry your Beloved, or the deep affections of sacrificial love shown over many years for your wife, these are all ways in which we love because He first loved us.  We are commanded to love one another (John 13:34) as a testimony of our discipleship (John 13:35); we are told that the greatest love is to lay down our lives for our friends (John 15:13); our love for each other in the church is a testimony of the incarnation of Christ (John 17:21, 23); we should love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31); and we must love our wives sacrificially as Christ loved the church by dying for her (Ephesians 5:25).  As believers, we are conduits of love expressed in many ways across many relationships.

I recently heard a fun fact on the radio, in which a preacher had stated that in heaven, our new glorified bodies will be constructed very much like they are now which means we will have the ability to give hugs in heaven and will get to enjoy that for all eternity.  This was something I had not considered, but as I imagined what that would be like, I found it inviting, to engage our loved ones in a perfect state, without our sin nature, sounds so exciting!

Understanding our identity is central to our life of faith and allows us to maintain spiritual stability.  To have spiritual stability enables us to stand firm against the storms of life, knowing that our root is firm in Christ and there is no circumstance, no situation, no false accusation, no trial that can uproot us from the Vine (John 15:1-5; Romans 8:31-39).  Life may leave us bruised at times, but our identity transcends this life and because God has set eternity in our hearts, we can grow to spiritual maturity and experience that taste of eternity that allows us to face every circumstance with a quiet confidence that God is in control.  The longer we walk with God, the more we see how big He is and how far His Hand of Providence extends way beyond the limits of our minds.  We may try to contain God to what we can understand and to what we are comfortable with, but God will not be contained, and the more we learn to surrender, the more we will see His hand working in our lives.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been made complete (Colossians 2:10) and by His divine power, we have received everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). 

Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!