Identity

Posted on July 16, 2014 Updated on July 17, 2014

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

One of the interesting things about Peanut’s quickly growing vocabulary is that we get more glimpses each day of how she is processing the world around her.  A recent favorite activity is to point to photos around the house and pictures in books and identify the particular person or object.  Despite my correction, there are two people Peanut insists are “Mama”—Lisa, a cute African-American girl in one of her favorite books, “Corduroy,” and Tutankhamen, the old Egyptian pharaoh, whose illustrated photo appears in a lift-the-flap “Questions and Answers” book.  I love these exchanges when I turn to Cadence and explain, “No honey, that’s not Mama, but that looks Mama, doesn’t it?  That’s Lisa (or Tutankhamen).”  She looks at me, smiles, then looks back to her books and points to the pictures and again says “Mama.”  “Dada” has not been so fortunate.  He has been commonly associated with a picture of a cow in one of Peanut’s books.  I wish Peanut could explain that one to me.

For some reason, these repeated exchanges have made me think a lot about identity—not even mine as much as Peanut’s.  I’ve wondered how she will see herself.  She is half Caucasian and half Indian, and in our surrounding communities, bi- and multi-racial babies are becoming more and more common.  And then as I get this far in my thinking, I stop myself.  Wait.  Why in a question of identity, is race one of the first things that comes to my mind?  Where is that coming from?  The world defines us and answers the question of “What is your identity” based on a host of external characteristics—the sorts of things about which people engage in small talk.  Where are you from? What’s your background?  What do you do?  Where do you live?  Did you grow up around here?  Where did you go to school?  How many kids do you have?

Jesus and the Word turn this question around of “What is your identity” and base it on an internal reality that has nothing to do with me or you.  Galatians 2:20 is not a subtle suggestion but the boldest possible characterization of the identity of a Christian: “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  This means that Christ IS my identity.  Apart from Christ, I am dead.  Because of Christ, I am alive.  Galatians 2:20 takes the question of “What is your identity” and in reality, completely alters the question to “WHO is your identity.”  When I look in the mirror, what I am supposed to treasure and value is the person who lives inside of me.  This is not to suggest that my background, the things that I do, the places that I have lived and currently live are of no significance.  Those are all a part of me and God’s story for my life.  But my identity?  How I characterize myself?  How I should view myself in the morning, at night and during every waking moment?  That should always be based on Christ, because it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

I was particularly helped by an old John Piper sermon on Galatians 2:15-21, entitled, “I Do Not Nullify the Grace of God,” with this particular excerpt on verse 20:

What then remains? Verse 20 puts it two ways. First, “Christ lives in me.” Christ remains. He rose from the dead, and he took over where the life of pride and self-direction had died. The great and awesome mystery of the gospel is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). . . . A Christian is a person who has died with Christ, whose stiff neck has been broken, whose brazen forehead has been shattered, whose stony heart has been crushed, whose pride has been slain, and whose life is now mastered by Jesus Christ. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!”

But verse 20 puts it another way, too: “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” There is a new “I”—I do still live. But look who it is. It is no longer an “I” who craves self-reliance or self-confidence or self-direction or self-exaltation. The new “I” looks away from itself and trusts in the Son of God, whose love and power was proved at Calvary. From the moment you wake in the morning till the moment you fall asleep at night, the new “I” of faith despairs of itself and looks to Christ for protection and the motivation, courage, direction, and enablement to walk in joy and peace and righteousness. What a great way to live!

What a great way to live indeed.  There are so many questions that we seek to resolve about ourselves.  And if you’re like me, you so easily and quickly run to several sources except for the One that matters most.  It is such a joy to know that these questions truly can be resolved by one simple answer.  And in the end, that is all that really matters.

When I was younger, I remember seeing a video of Martin Luther King, Jr. on TV and I asked my mom, “Are we the same as him?”  I can’t really remember my mom’s answer on that one apart from a correction and clarification.  I wonder if a day will come when Peanut will look in the mirror and ask, “Mommy, what am I?”  Because of Galatians 2:20, I know I will answer, “You are God’s,” and I am hopeful that I can also remind her that Jesus has made his home inside of her and that’s who matters.