I wasn’t sure who I would become, and I wasn’t always sure I wanted to remain who I was.
I’ve been many things. I was a preacher’s kid from the time I was eight years old until my dad died when I was forty-nine years old. I was once a grandchild. That identity vanished when my last grandparent died. For a short period, I was an Orkin exterminator. Crawling under houses, seeing animals I didn’t care to see, hitting my head, and smelling odors convinced me I didn’t want that identity.
For two years, I worked in a warehouse. Someone else decided I shouldn’t continue that identity when they laid me off and never called me back. Then I became a textile worker for four years. I went from weaver to floor sweeper to supervisor. When I answered God’s call to enter the ministry, I went from textile worker to preacher. Along the way, I also taught school.
Those are positions I once held—labels I once carried—but they weren’t who I was. As a nine-year-old lad, I listened to my dad explain the plan of salvation. I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my heart. I pledged to follow him as my Savior. In that moment, I became what Paul called a new person. Everything old passed into the past, and a new life began. I was a Christian who might be a preacher’s kid, grandchild, textile worker, Orkin exterminator, teacher, or preacher. My real identity, however, was bound up with Christ.
Another identity I left behind when I chose Christ was sinner. I love the song, “I’m Just a Sinner Saved by Grace,” but I question the theology. Yes, I was saved by grace, but the Bible doesn’t continue to classify believers as sinners. Instead, it classifies us as saints. We’re not perfect—and won’t be this side of heaven—but we are saints because Christ has given us his righteousness. We are God’s children, friends, and joint heirs with Christ.
Knowing who you are is crucial. It will shape your actions and attitudes when you face life’s difficulties.
Father, thank you for changing my identity when I trusted your Son as my Savior.
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