Category Archives: Your Identity in Christ

Decision Making and Guidance, Eternal Life, Holy Spirit, Your Identity in Christ

Realign your Identity with The King of Kings

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

As a Christian, I take it seriously that I am and remain allegiant to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. The book of Revelation, penned by the Apostle John, given to him straight from Jesus Christ in a vision, gives guide me the perspective of self-identity. When I read the scripture below, I think of the fascination many have with the Tudor Episodes, the historical plays of Shakespeare, the Game Of Thrones, and many others of this ilk. I also am a British history buff, and nerdy buff of the Baird, yet I am deeply humbled and awed when meditating on this scripture – I take it from John, written for me: Revelation 1: 4-7 NKJV:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Catch a Vision of the Son

I hope to help you realize that you are the masterpiece that scripture indicates that you are. Many Christians suffer from a Spiritual Identity Crisis that can undermine self-confidence and success in every area of life. Your effectiveness, as you seek to live your best life in a socially sensitive culture can be affected. Many look daily for recognition — some may seek approval by being liked on Facebook, for example. If we understand our identity as a son or daughter of God, we can retain our confidence while having no problem, insofar as we commit to discern how we are affected by and respond to the influence of our culture and its social media in the context of being an eternal spirit.

I have appreciated the guidance of Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and run my scheduled life by his outlined strategies. I appreciate His wisdom in areas relating to personal growth in my relationship to Jesus Christ, and in my business life. Behind The 7 Habits material, that sold over 25 million copies, lies Covey’s life view:

You and I are God’s own children. We have infinite potential, infinite worth, and we should not compare ourselves with others in any way on the basis of status, position, appearance, fashion, or any of the world’s value systems. All of these systems are false sources of self-definition, and we are surrounded by them. We live in a media-saturated world that continuously tries to define who we are. Unless we counteract these false scripts, they become deeply planted in our hearts and minds and also in the hearts and minds of our children.  Dr. Stephen Covey

It is important to identify ourselves correctly — define your sense of who you are as a redeemed child of God, purchased by Christ who gave His life for you — yes you were individually called into His kingdom.

If we don’t see our identity as a child of God, our view of ourselves can become shaped by culture. Covey aptly notes: “…if we do not have a deep sense of our true identity as a daughter or son of God the Father — if our basic sense of self, comes from other people, we may develop a false view of life, based on scarcity rather than God’s love or abundance”.

Give yourself an identity checkup.

If you were going to Toronto and you used a map of Vancouver, you would get lost. If you felt confused and sped up, you would get more deeply lost! Similarly, if we use a map of the culture for our life, directed by the scripting of others — of parents and friends without Christ, as a Christian we will get lost.  Conversely, all of your decision-making and planning can now be mapped using God’s GPS with His view of His children’s pathway — our heavenly mindmap. Let the Holy Spirit and the Word of God be your guiding principles in all that you do, going forward. Can you commit to this? Commitment can save you from being sucked back into the confusion of false identity.

The Psychologist James Marcia developed views on identity statuses, commitment to your identity being one,  expanded on here by Susan Krauss:

The four identity statuses are built from high and low positions on two identity dimensions. Dimension one is “commitment.” People high on commitment have a firm sense of who they are and feel strongly about the choices they have made. People low in identity commitment have an uncertain sense of self.  Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D., Psychology Today article

I like what Covey says: “A scarcity mentality is the tendency to define oneself in terms of being better than, or not as good as, another person”, yet if we know that we are a child of God the Father, as a brother or sister in Christ, we are protected from the world’s false ideology of self-identity. Don’t become a slave of others who try hard to define you through their filter of the world! YOU are a child of God!

We can get derailed from doing important thinking — self-examination important to our destiny. Krauss writes:

At the opposite pole on both dimensions, people low in commitment and exploration fit criteria for “identity diffused.” People high on exploration but low on commitment are in a category that Marcia called “moratorium.” This means that they have placed a hold on making the major decisions in their lives.  They’re thinking hard about what they want to do but aren’t ready to commit.

These scriptures below, beautifully depict you as a child of God.1  Hold them close and believe that you are indeed a masterpiece of God! I and my brothers and sisters in Christ are royal king-priests and queen-priests, and Christ is our King of Kings, a Royal priesthood. In identity, I am fully committed to Jesus as my Lord and King-Preist who loves me.

Scripture articulates your identity and defines who you are. If you are not fully committed I appeal to you, consider who your potential below. You are:

BELOVED: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

A CHILD OF GOD: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

DELIGHTED IN: “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

FORGIVEN: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

WASHED CLEAN: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

FREE: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY: “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Romans 8:15)

CO-HEIR WITH CHRIST: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)

RIGHTEOUS: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

NEW: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

A SAINT: “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

SET APART: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.” (1 Peter 2:9)

AN AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

A CO-LABORER: “For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9)

A SWEET AROMA: “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)

NEVER ALONE: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

A MASTERPIECE: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10)

WONDERFULLY MADE: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)

BOLD: “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:12)

HAVING GUARANTEED VICTORY: “You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.” (Psalm 18:35)

HOLDING A SECURED FUTURE: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

WHOLE IN CHRIST: “In Christ, you have been brought to fullness.” (Colossians 2:10)

1 I want to thank Ben Malcomson, Assitant to the Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks for compiling this scripture list — one of many on the Identity of Christians Listed Scriptures above are of the NIV. 

Grace, Jesus in Life, Law of God, The Final Judgment, Uncategorized, Your Identity in Christ

Good works do not result in salvation

Our good works do not result in salvation, nor do bad works result in being lost.

If good works do not result in our salvation, are they important? Moreover, if our bad actions do not cause us to be lost, then are evil deeds a non-issue? The key phrase “result in” means that the outcome of our works, do not determine our status with the Lord. However, behaviour, good or bad, can indicate our sincerity or a distancing in our relationship with Him.

It is not about the importance of or the purpose of our good deeds. It is about the method of salvation of which our good deeds are not the cause. They are the result.

What causes us to experience the joy of salvation if not our good deeds? Romans 3:20 states: “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Jesus alone saves us, and we are kept and accounted righteous by the faith expressed in our accepting Him and further abiding in a relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Our focal attention must not be on our goodness or our misdeeds.To seek for or experience salvation, we are to focus on Jesus. By beholding Him, we will become changed into His image and our joy shall be suffonsified.

Every time we look at ourselves or our agenda alone, we will be unsuccessful. It is easy to be discouraged when we see our sinfulness and give up, or be proud of our excellent works and become proud. It is a dead-end street, either way, these delusions work to our misery. Only look to Jesus and know that you are secure. The bad thief on the cross looked to Jesus and said “Lord remember me in your coming kingdom” recognising Jesus as the Messiah. How did Jesus reply? “Today I tell you—you will be with me in paradise!”

Paul was radical about the subject of salvation by faith in Christ alone. He was not against good works – after all, he was one of the best-behaved persons in town. Writing Philippians 3, he disabuses his readers with some balancing humour: “If anybody has reason to boast of good works, I have matched or exceeded his record!” Summing it up, he counted his past life as loss – in fact, he viewed his behavioural perfectionism as crap — when compared to the glorious, merciful, faultless righteousness of Christ. Judged by the letter of the law as a good man, with an exemplary moral outward life, he had abstained from recognisable sin. Paul, reviewing his life, now honest, saw himself as God saw him — a man trying hard to be justified by works. He came to his senses and confessed that his need alone was Christ.

Our salvation finds union and security in our acceptance of Jesus — of His sacrifice for us – and our ongoing relationship with Him. It is not dependent on behaviour — salvation is much more than behaviour. Good works are not bargaining chips for eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life”. Actions alone do not determine one’s eternal destiny — whereas our open-hearted, unashamed and honest relationship with Jesus as your Saviour does.

Good deeds will show up in your life, but they will never cause your salvation. God does not judge by the outward actions, but by the heart from which flow all the issues of life (see 1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 4:23).

Grace, Parenting, Uncategorized, Your Identity in Christ

Learning from the faith of children

“And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, ‘Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.’” (Lk 18.15-17)1

The acceptance Jesus offers to children promotes their simple potential faith in Him. Recall a child hanging on its mother’s hand. Ask, “Do I turn to Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father like that?”

A child trusts its parents, knowing a calm nearness and unity of engagement. Unlike most adults, a child’s mind is fully at peace in the moment when a loving mother or father engages with their child.

There are no stresses and fears entering the mind of a child because most young children are not worrying about their future. Nor are their memories of past regrets or harboured bitterness in the mind of a child, as most are not culpable of racking up traumatic memories of harm to or by others. Children are not generally focusing on the past, again free to experience the moment of parental unity.

I am hoping to be more like a child when I come into the moment with our Lord, to experience His presence with His Father, both who desire to dwell with us ongoingly. I know that only when my mind is practising the presence of God can His Spirit’s love, compassion, and kindness flow through me to those I connect with.

They will see Christ in us, and together with Him, we will make a difference in the lives of others that can impact their lives for eternity.

All stresses and fears enter our mind when we are thinking about the future. All regrets and bitterness come into our mind when you are focusing on the past.2 Mindfulness is lost and our faith life while living in Christ in the moment is distracted and lost in time. (see Mat 6:34)

Take a moment and think about how beautiful it is to see a child walking by the side of a parent with a small hand stretched up as high as it can go so his or her fragile fingers can lock onto the hand of Mom or Dad. The child’s feet scurry to keep up with the parent’s gait. In that scene is a picture of you, a child of God.

We are to metaphorically place our hands in his and walk with him at our side, letting him direct our steps. The humility, trust, and dependence of a child teach us to seek the face of our heavenly Father and stay close to him as we walk with him.3

1 New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
2 Scott, Steven K. (2015-12-15). Jesus Speaks: 365 Days of Guidance and Encouragement, Straight from the Words of Christ (p. 1). The Crown Publishing Group.
3 Life Application New Testament Commentary, Luke, Darrel L. Bock
Discernment and Thinking, Uncategorized, Your Identity in Christ

The divine maxim of fathers and sons

“…that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him”. (John 5:23)

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God had impressed me to write about his Sovereign design of the father/son, about inter-relating in loving unity, which I had seen so clearly in the Gospel with the divine Father and Son. It was a very emotional subject because my son had just spent a week visiting from British Columbia. I often think about being closer to my son, through joint business for example.

Nathan and I did a lot of travel together. He slugged my cameras as I explored ruins doing art photography. He also directed my itinerary. During this time of travel Nathan was moving out of his youth into manhood. I also wanted him to experience history, art, and culture.

We traveled to the many ancient ruins of Italy and France once a quarter for one or more weeks, to photograph ruins and primary historical sites. I also found myself studying the photographic potential of the abstractions of modern architecture and oddities in urban and city settings. Old ruins in ancient settings interested me the most.

There is a theological connection with ruins. As a biblical teacher/writer I am very keen about naming the Old Covenant as a period of ruined hope, now focusing on the beauty of the distinctiveness of the New Covenant as taught by Jesus Christ.

In my traveling heyday, I was a much more complicated man. Now I de-access materialism, craving more time with my children and grandchildren. My daughter Christin has commented lovingly and frequently in our best moments, “Dad, you’ve changed” during which time I proudly see my little girl all grown up.

God was working in several ways to lead me. I was simultaneously led by the Spirit in another parallel project. Going over 40 years of photography, I thought “What could a ruin represent as a shadow-type of my life?” Perhaps, metaphoric milestones, representations of a progression or regression of my spiritual life-view over time could give me distinctive wisdom.

Now 62, looking over subjects I photographed. I reassessed my values, the scope of my personal growth, noting blind spots, revelations, foolish hindrances to vision, deafness to God’s voice, avoiding mindfulness in any present reality, and the glorious truths, as well as the dark side of my life’s journey.

Unearthing our distant past is hard work Similar to the ruins of Rome or Pompeii or Greece, my photographic images, in my mind’s eye, could never model a ruin to testify to my past terrifying ruin — the dissolution of familial love in my childhood family as the eldest of five siblings. My mother called on me as a boy, saying fraught with fear, I can hear her now: “you are now the man of the family.”

This would present to me a very serious loss to my psyche, my father, whom mother distanced us from.

Ruins depict the unknowableness of place and time. In a photo, it hides a different and disconnected past as hidden as my own (psychologists call this repression). It is looking back, a seeking for something, perhaps a reconstruction of a time that once was real. Freud wrote of ruins:

Imagine that an explorer arrives in a little-known region where his interest is aroused by an expanse of ruins…when they have been deciphered and translated, yield undreamed-of information about the events of the remote past, to commemorate which the monuments were built.

Ruins persist in the disorder of time, now to return as a metaphor for my very own past. My childhood family fell into ruination. Like the photographed ruins of Mars Hill during my trip to Athens, Greece, a time and place which resisted repression, thanks to the Apostle Paul’s preaching of the Gospel, ruins helped reactivate the repressed foes of my psyche with the help of the Holy Spirit leading.

Two writing projects coincided. It became clear to me that while dealing with my metaphoric journey, the present truth about Father and Son became powerfully activated. Nathan had recently told his friend in my presence about our last Italian dinner together after traveling to Rome, then Florence, and finally in Venice together. I listened. My mind was now very present in the conversation, and this past recalled the moment, though it was God working with my quest to understand more about my soul. Love, via the Spirit of God, flowed into my heart as I looked at Nathan before me, now twice the age of that evening’s memorable meal together. It was a kind of the last supper with him as our trip came to a close.

The reality of that unity with my son brought me resounding echoes of joy. Jesus prayed for His disciples before the cross. “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11)

The assessment of my photography of ruins coincided with recalling my son’s visit, bringing me to a revelation of the divine nature of father/son unity: “one as we are one.” I began to understand the relationship that Jesus would have me enjoy with the heavenly Father, unity, and the oneness that time with Nathan echoed.

Worship, Praise and Music, Your Identity in Christ

Why should God be glorified?

“In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5-6 NASB)

These few words of Apostle Paul bring clarity in a Christian’s heart. Firstly, God loves humanity to such an extent, that we are accounted as adopted children – adopted into the family of God. His love is qualified by the kind intention of His will. It is proven by God the Father by sending His son, Jesus, to redeem us from the world of sin. He freely bestowed love through the gospel act of Christ dying on the cross for you and me: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1: 13 NASB)

Lately, I have a deep inner need to praise God as his child. He adopted you and me — those who accept Christ — into His family — via or in the Beloved. Paul makes this clear: this adoption inculcates the praise of the glory of His grace. Moreover, God has revealed His love via the gospel – revealed as His grace — again the kind intention of His will is emphasised: “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him” (v 9)

Why do we give praise to His glory? Children look up to a kind father, ideally, trusted as a glorious being full of power working for our benefit and happiness. In this sense, they are loved — wooed into the glory a harmonious unity in a respectful, loving relationship within a family. We can acknowledge that the glory of God is seen in the majestic goodness of a God who adopted us into His kingdom by the kind intention of His will.

And what is the glory of God? As infinite as God’s glory itself, the question the answer is beyond our understanding. As we grow in our relationship with God – as we study the Word – in the old testament we begin to see God’s reputation gaining weight as He reveals Himself as Creator, Provider, Judge, and Redeemer — ultimately a God of Mercy, Love, and Grace. When we see God the Father in the New Testament, we see the kind intention of His will more fully in the character of Jesus. In Jesus, God’s glory elicits praise: “if you have seen me you have seen the father” Jesus told Philip.

We are also made aware that Christ was very active in the creation of the world and the human race. We must understand that Jesus was the great “I am” who selected Moses to lead His people out of Egypt – the God who later revealed Himself to Moses as “Yahweh.” “Before Abraham, I am,” Jesus said. Many do not realise that Jesus is one with God, and fully God the Creator and the Redeemer of all time. Paul referred to Jesus as the Rock that followed them in the wilderness. In Colossians 1:15-18, Paul makes it clear that Jesus created everything (see also John 1:3. Hebrews 1:2):

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

We begin to see the collaborative unity of intent of Jesus working with the Father to redeem humanity, as his very own children – to bring them back from a state of rebellion. The message of grace contains another reason why we glorify God: “God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery” and this glory is one that places our hope in the gospel mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Our “hearts may be encouraged…in love…that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself” (ch 2, v 2).

As Creator God our above quote indicates that Jesus created the world as a place where he would be known, served, praised, and worshipped — a place where His glory would be both manifest and enjoyed. What God set out to accomplish at the beginning, he will bring to pass at the end of all things (see Rev 21: 15—22: 5).

This world, God designed as a family home wherein an image of himself representing love in human beings, would radiate His glory. Words of Christ such as “allow the little children to come unto me” make sense when He is seen as Creator God.

The human body is an engineered masterpiece; childbirth is miraculous; the mercy and justice that humans can understand and display as they relate to one another are multifaceted. Akin to our Father, we can express love to others, reach out for relational engagement, utilise our reasoning powers for creative development. In short, we were created to reflect the very glory of the One whose image we bear.

God endowed us as his image-bearers with the capacity to use all our powers in elevating worship of the One who made us, sustains us, and created us for himself as His representatives — and in the kind intention of His will, He has brought mankind back to Himself in His Son Jesus Christ, the hope of this glory.

This is the reason why we should glorify both God the Father and His Son, with our whole heart!