So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
The first place of spiritual attack in most people’s life is at the level of their identity. From the time we are aware of the world around us we are trying to find our place and discover where we fit in. This is the moment that the spiritual battle begins by bombarding our minds with the heavy load of destructive comparisons. The very demons of hell make sure that the questions of how we rank in attractiveness, ability, intelligence, acceptance, finances, and our ability to succeed are never far from our consciousness. When we begin to run a business, we find it hard to move with confidence and assurance because we have accepted our “rank” and let it assign us our value.
“Spiritual identity means we are not what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have. We are the beloved daughters and sons of God.” – Henry Nouwen
The first of our Seven Steps to Overcoming Spiritual Warfare in the Marketplace (see last week’s post for an overview: Click HERE) is to “Claim Our Identity in Christ.” Why does that matter? Because if we don’t know who we are, how loved we are, and how valuable we are, we will never have the confidence to even begin to fight.
So who are we? Here is just a short, starter list:
- Made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27)
- Dearly loved by Him (Rom. 5:5)
- Holy, blameless without a single flaw (Col. 1:22)
- His work of art created to do great things (Eph. 2:10)
- Children and heirs of God (Gal. 4:6-7)
- Complete (not lacking anything) in Christ (Col. 2:9-10)
- Chosen, royal, and God’s special possession (I Peter 2:9)
Many years ago my wife and I were having a garage sale. Our 9 year-old daughter had a special teddy bear (she called “Beary”) that had somehow found its way into the For Sale box. We were selling all of the stuffed animals for what the market would bear–25 cents. When our daughter came home from school and saw that her precious teddy bear had been included in the sale, she was aghast. She scooped up the bear and said with great indignation, “Beary is not for sale! He is my special bear!”
You see, we were greatly mistaken about Beary. We thought it was worth what the market said it was worth–25 cents. My daughter knew better; because she loved that bear it had infinite worth and value.
It occurred to me that day, if a little girl can give a stuffed animal value and worth well beyond the market, what about us? The God of all the universe loves us deeply and completely–so much so that we will never fully grasp or understand it. What does that say about our worth?
We measure ourselves by what the “market” says we are worth and based on the lies we have heard all of our lives. Our true worth is based on the one who loves us and what He says about us.
Think about that this week.
– posted by: Randall Sanford