A believer’s identity in Christ speaks of them being a new creation. The old self that lived apart from Christ is dead (crucified with Christ), and the new self emerges living in the power of God from Christlikeness to greater Christlikeness (see: Gal 2:20 and 2 Cor 3:16-18). A Christ follower is united with Christ and called to live in community with other believers, becoming citizens of heaven.
Part of the result of a believer’s identity in Christ is that we no longer belong to this world, but are separated from it. Paul writes to the church in Corinth:
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty’” (2 Cor 6:14-18).
If an ox and a donkey were put in a double yoke, they would be unequally yoked. They would be unable to evenly pull a load. In a similar sense, a Christian is not to form a close and permanent marital, social, or business tie with an unbeliever. This is not to be interpreted as forbidding friendship with those who have yet to receive Christ, but as a caution not to enter into a relationship where the believer can be influenced to stray from Christ. God does not cause us to cease contact with the world, but to make sure we are not molded into its form (see: Rom 12:2). We are to live in the world, but not of the world (see: Matt 5:13-16). We are to live in an intimate relationship with God, made possible in Christ, whom we are identified. By His power we can, “make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without” (2 Cor 7:1). This separateness allows the believer to effectively reflect and direct others to Christ.
Our identity in Christ ought to draw us closer and closer to God and His kingdom and farther and farther from the stuff of this earth (see: Col 3:2). Our new kingdom perspective means we understand that our enemy is the devil and not the people around us. Our enemy is the spiritual forces that endeavor to keep people from knowing God and believers from growing in intimacy with Him (see: Eph 6:12).
If all of this seems overwhelming, remember that one of the greatest blessings of our identity in Christ is the grace we’re given to grow and reflect Him to others. Paul encourages the church in Philippi and us as well with these words: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). God is committed to our spiritual growth as a believer. The God who has saved us will complete what He has begun. We will enter into the final blessing that Christ has prepared for us when He returns. Today He calls us to embrace our identity in Him and allow the light of that identity to fill us and shine through us in the hope that others will receive life in Him.
I am so thankful to be on mission with Christ and with each of you. Let’s encourage one another to live for God’s kingdom and not the kingdom of this world. Let’s help one another to embrace Christ’s love and share it with others. Our identity in Christ fills us with the presence and power of God. As citizens of His kingdom, let’s pray and participate in seeing His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!