Month: July 2026

  • Identity in Christ, In The Word

    Living Fully Free

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    For much of my life, I felt like I was caught between two worlds. Like I was trying my best to live a life for God and follow His leading, but at the very same time, I felt controlled by sin. In one moment, I was completely confident in myself, and in the next I would be consumed by fear of what people thought about me. One day I would experience freedom from the things I was struggling with, and the next I would feel ashamed by my faults and failures, stuck in the same loop as the years before.

    The way I was living stemmed from the things I believed. I believed I was walking daily with Jesus, but that I was also still chained to sin – bound to my corrupt nature and waiting for the day I would truly be free.

    But, praise God! That’s not what His word says about those who are in Christ Jesus!

    “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.

    For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:3-11 (ESV)

    The Word of God tells us that there is no longer room for the power of sin to rule in our lives. We can no longer walk around believing that we are still who we once were: enslaved to sin and destined for shame.

    We were born with a broken, sinful heart, and we sought a righteousness and life of our own. But the moment we placed our faith in Jesus, we were born again – not by the will and sin of man, but born of God (John 1:12). Our old self was crucified with Him, dying to sin, and our new self rose victorious over death! By faith and through baptism, we have been united in Jesus’s death and resurrection, and made completely new by His blood.

    Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live by Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

    2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

    Throughout the New Testament, we see the freedom that Jesus purchased for us. As believers in Jesus, this reality is the truest thing about us. It is more true than our mistakes or failures; it’s more true than our feelings or our circumstances. Even if we were to fall into old thought patterns or slip up and fall into a sin that once ruled us, it doesn’t mean that our old self has come back to life or that the sacrifice of Jesus wasn’t enough to secure our full freedom.

    Our emotions or even our actions, though they may be true to our experience, don’t set forth the truth in our lives. The only thing that shapes us, defines us, or identifies us is the truth of the Word of God. There is nothing more powerful than Jesus’s sacrifice and resurrection. Who the Son sets free, is free indeed! (John 8:36)

    “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. Romans 6:16-19 (ESV)

    What we believe to be true is the most influential thing in our lives. If we believe that sin still rules us or that Jesus’s sacrifice only gave us a partial or future freedom, then that’s how we’ll live: enslaved to sin. But if we believe what His word says is true, that we have been crucified with Christ, that we are dead to sin and have been made alive to God, then that’s how we’ll live–in freedom! As Paul says, we are to consider ourselves by the reality of what Christ has accomplished in us: He’s freed us from sin and death and filled us with His righteousness, with His very life. That truth can be so difficult for us to comprehend.

    This is the vibrant, abundant life that Christ has secured for us. Living in the fullness of His love, unhindered by our past or our current circumstances, fixed on who He is and what He’s done. It is for freedom that we’ve been set free (Galatians 5:1); let us not submit to the lie of the enemy that we are still enslaved to sin! As we stand in this truth, our minds are renewed to align with the victory of Jesus in our lives. Since we now know the full redemption that Jesus secured for us, we can live from His fullness and increasingly display His life through our own.

    This understanding has changed my entire life. I am no longer thrown by the winds of emotion or ruled by sin’s apparent authority in my life. I now have peace knowing that Christ has defeated sin once and for all and has set me free to live in complete unity with Him. I am no longer fighting shame from my past failures or consumed by a fear of what others think of me, but I have a godly confidence because of who Jesus has made me. And of none of this can I boast, for it is only by the finished work of Jesus that I stand holy, righteous, blameless, and powerful over every attack or lie of the enemy. Thank you, Jesus!

    My prayer for you friend, is that these truths empower you to walk in the full freedom that Christ has purchased for you. These truths are not concepts or ideas – they are not simply pieces of your story or hints at your future – they are your truest reality and the source of your identity. As you read these scriptures today and ponder the depth of God’s transformative love that was poured out for you through Jesus, I pray your heart is filled with gratitude and celebration because His victory is yours! Let this sink in deeply today and carry you forward: you are free! Truly, right now, fully free!

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  • Identity in Christ

    Free To Be Me

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    Can you think of a time when you felt most like yourself? A time when your personality and strengths weren’t filtered or watered down, and you felt free to just be who God made you to be. 

    For many of us, the last time we truly felt like that may have been when we were little kids playing in the yard, or maybe in school, hitting our sweet spot on a sports team, in choir, or drama club. Maybe you haven’t experienced that personally, but you know someone who seems so confident in who God made them to be that you wish you could be more like that. 

    When God created each of us, He painstakingly crafted everything about us. Our personality, our laugh, our strengths and the quirky things that make us different. But as we grow and endure the hardships of life, it can be easy to forget or to second guess if God got it right in the first place when He made us. So often we can fall into a habit of doubting or downplaying our worth, and second guessing who we are, and who God has created us to be. 

    Sometimes, we subconsciously shift who we are to fit into our surroundings, or shrink back from who God has created us to be because of the influence of others, whether on social media, or relationships we have in real life. We might doubt the gifts God has given us, and feel afraid to step out in faith to serve God and bless others with our gifts. And other times, we doubt our true worth, unsure if God really loves us like He says, or if He would keep loving us, if He knew us like we know ourselves. 

    At the root of all this, is a lie Satan has been whispering to us from the beginning. When God created Adam and Eve, He said His creation was “very good”.  But when Satan tempted Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he attacked her value as God’s creation. He told her that she will be more like God if she eats the fruit, implying that she is not already created in His image. The underlying message was that Eve was not enough as God had created her, that she needed to do more, and be more. The voice of the enemy deceived Eve into doubting God and herself. 

    As followers of Jesus, we need to allow God’s voice to drown out the lies of the enemy. It is important for us to tune our hearts and minds to hear the truth of what God says about us, and Psalm 139 is a perfect reminder of exactly that. 

    You may have read Psalm 139 before, but there are a few things that I want to lean into today. 

    In verses 1-4, the Psalmist says, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely…”

    I love that! God is familiar with all my ways. He knows my habits, my thoughts, my weaknesses and my strengths. He even knows what I’m going to say before I say it, and loves me anyway! 

    I used to worry that if God knew all everything about me, He would see the messes in my heart and in my life and that would diminish His love for me. It was always so much easier to see only my mistakes, rather than the good ways that God created me. But as I grew to know God more, and see His heart for me in Scripture, I realized that Psalm 139 is a psalm of praise to God, but also one of great reassurance to us! 

    In verses 13-14, 17-18, we read, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

    God knows us as we truly are, and cherishes us because we are His children. He created us, knows us, and loves us more than we can imagine. If God knows us and loves us and calls His creation “very good”, then who are we to say otherwise? He alone has the final say on our worth. 

    Whether we are going about our day or lying down to go to sleep, when God looks at us, He thinks good things about us! Like a parent looking at their sleeping child, He thinks about us and all that He created us to be, all the plans that He has for us, and He delights in being with us. And in the morning, He is still there when we wake up. Even if we weren’t at our best that day, there’s nothing that will scare Him off, or make Him love us less. We are not “too much” for Him.

    God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins, and take away our shame. He has set us free from being slaves to sin and covered us with His grace. Because of this, and through faith, we can approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12) We are defined by His love for us, not our worst mistakes.

    When we allow that truth to settle in our hearts, we begin to see how He has created us through a different lens. Suddenly our personality, our strengths, even some of our quirks can be used to steward God’s grace in the world around us. When we know how much God loves us, and that He created us uniquely for a purpose, we are free to be ourselves. We are free to step out boldly and use our gifts to bless others and help build God’s Kingdom.

    We begin to love God and others without restraint. We are free from striving, performing, and perfectionism. We don’t have to compare ourselves to others or keep up with the status quo, because in God you are enough. He knew the world needed one of you!

    So dear friend, you don’t need to be someone else. God chose you to be in the world right here and now. The person He made you to be is exactly who he can use to bless others and grow his Kingdom.

    Ultimately it all comes down to trusting that God is enough, that what He says about us is enough, and that in Him, we are enough. God loves us and His approval is all we need. 

    If you’re struggling to love who God made you to be, I want to invite you to write down some things that you are good at, or things that come naturally for you. Keep a list of times you felt you did something well, or that God used you to encourage or help someone else. When we acknowledge our strengths and talents as gifts from God, and give HIm the credit and glory, we are not boasting in ourselves, but in Him. We are so quick to remember our failings, but it’s important to remember there’s so much good about us too!

    You can also write out scripture as a reminder of truth, and post it somewhere you’ll see it often. The truth of God’s word says you are chosen, beloved, a daughter of God, set apart for good works planned in advance for you to do, you have purpose and a heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally, and forever. 

    My prayer for you today is from Deuteronomy 33:12:  “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”

    In Christ, we are free to be our true selves, no filters, no holding back. When we are living in the truth of who God says we are, we can rest securely in His love. We can live free from doubt and worry and trust that the One who lovingly created us is carrying us still. I pray that today you would experience the peace of knowing that you are truly loved for who you are, and live securely in your identity as God’s beloved. You are beautifully and wonderfully made. Rest on God’s shoulders, knowing that you are exactly where you belong, for you are His beloved daughter!

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