Identity is EVERYTHING!!!

"For He (God) made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to BE sin for us, that we might BECOME the righteousness of God in Him." II Corinthians 5:21

This may be the most important verse in the Bible. At least for me it seems to be. God made Jesus, the One who never sinned, to become sin for me so that in Jesus, God could make me to become the righteousness of God.

I had read that verse for years and even committed it to memory. I spoke of this verse often and used it to share how Jesus "bore" my sin so that I could "have" the righteousness of God. But one day it seemed God was prodding me to look at that verse again and carefully notice exactly what it said. After reading it slowly and pausing on each word, God showed me something I had not seen before.

Jesus didn’t just “bear” my sin for me. He “became” sin in my place so that God could pour out onto Jesus all of His wrath for my sin. And He did that for one reason; so that when I am in Christ, covered with the innocent Lamb of God, I could “become” the righteousness of God. I don’t just “have” the righteousness of God. I have “become” the righteousness of God.

Oh what a difference that makes. It’s not just a change in what I possess. It’s a change in what I am. I am righteous. I am now a saint and it’s all because of Jesus. It’s important that we fully understand our identity in Christ. Because of God’s transformation, we are no longer filthy sinners. We are holy and perfect saints.

Why is the distinction between "having righteousness" and "being righteous" important? Why is knowing your identity crucial to the abundant life? It's because we always act out of who we believe we are!!! If we believe we are still sinners by our identity, then we will believe that the normal thing for us to do is to sin. We'll believe that we're just "human" and we just "can't help it." And our continual sin will prohibit our living in abundance.

But once we understand that in Christ we have become holy and righteous saints we will begin to see that sinning is no longer normal or natural for us. We'll understand the truth that God has enabled us by our new identities to live lives of victory over sin which always results in abundance for living!

Have you ever really thought about who you are in Christ? Do you think of yourself as the world sees you or as God sees you? You ARE who God says you are! He says you are His holy, righteous, victorious saint!!!