Who am I?
To make our experience match our position, many times we must affirm our position instead of our feelings. Your flesh will always want to go against your spirit, and it will question the wisdom of living by faith. It is at this point that you must affirm your Biblical identity. You may pray, for instance, “Thank you, Father, that I was crucified with you on the cross (Rom. 6:6). I know it is no longer the old man who is living, but you are living in me as my very life (Gal. 2:20). I know that you are the one who has sanctified me in this matter (1 Cor. 1:30), and I am trusting in You as my righteousness. (1 Cor. 1:30).”
When there is an accusation in your heart that you are still the same as you once were, you must put your spiritual eyes on the fact of the Bible and lay claim to your new identity in Christ. It will not be easy, and you will still have times of struggle and problems as you learn to walk in your new identity in Christ. But as you learn to truly walk by faith, your experience will begin to affirm that the old man is indeed dead, and that the new man is life and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people who experience the death of a close loved one, such as a spouse or a child, have a very difficult time with the grieving process.
Many of them keep things close to them that are constant reminders of their loved ones. Some keep phone messages and tape recordings that they play back over and over just to hear the voice of the departed. The Bible says when Abraham’s wife Sarah died, he chose to bury her where he would not see her grave. It is normal to grieve over the death of a loved one, but to get through the grieving process, the dead must be put away from us.
Many Christians cannot live a victorious life in Christ because they have never buried the old dead man out of their sight. They keep all the pictures and remembrances of their former self around to remind them. If you really want to embrace your new Identity in Christ, you need to finally bury the old man out of your sight: get rid of the keepsakes that you have protected all this time and surround yourself with life instead of death.
Don’t worry about what others will say.
They will not understand because they still identify with death instead of life. 1 Peter 4:1-4 says, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:”
Your identity is no longer found in the sins of the past, nor is it found in the opinions of others. It is found in the life of Jesus Christ living in you. Once you begin to live in this truth, your experience will indeed match your position, and you will find your true identity in Christ, becoming the person He already sees you to be.
