DEFINED

What is your identity? Typically, when someone hears this question, it is followed by a long pause. Initially, most people do not know how to answer this question. However, after a moment to ponder, responses such as these follows: I am a student. I am a Biology major. I am twenty years old. I am first generation American. But there must be more to your identity than just your age and career path.
Growing up as a Christian, I knew the “good Christian” answer was, “I am a follower of Christ.” As a child, I accepted that and continued with my life without understanding its meaning. Going through middle and early high school, I did not understand how much I was lacking without knowing Christ as my identity and worth. Believe it or not, life was great! There was no reason for me to redirect my thinking. Then came my junior year in high school. Without even knowing it, I was extremely overwhelmed by school and relationships. Whenever I would do poorly in something I was working on, I would feel incredibly incompetent and foolish. It was not until someone smacked me with the truth and said, “Charlotte, I think you are finding your worth in these worldly things and not in Christ.” WOW! This is something that I was very guilty of, but it took me a while to understand.
In life, we work hard in school, work, relationships, sports, etc. We are so committed to doing well that it takes over our lives, to the point where if we succeed, we feel extreme joy and worth, whereas, when we do poorly we feel worthless. This is how you know that you are placing your worth in worldly things. Since the things of this world and our abilities fluctuate, there will be a point where you feel worthless. The good news is, it is Biblical truth that our worth, despite how well we do in this world, comes from Christ. This means, that Jesus Christ left His glory in Heaven, while we were still sinners, came to this Earth to live a pure and sinless life, and died a sinner’s death for our salvation, so that we could be called Children of God (1 John 3:1). And now we wear Christ’s righteousness before our Heavenly Father! Without the cross, we are unholy, wretched sinners, but the blood of Jesus says, “You are worth it, because I love you.” This is what the Lord says about all His children. Therefore, we do not have to fret when we fail in this world, because we have a locked in, incomparable, worth in Christ! This does not mean that we should not work hard, because we are called to work well and diligently. However, we will always have our worth in Christ, which is so incredibly valuable. Nothing can separate us from the love of our Heavenly Father (Romans 8:38-39). Praise be to Him!

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.
-Galatians 2:20