Identity
If you think about it, just about every part of our life is transitory. Except our relationship with God. If you are a Christian, you have been given an identity from God that will remain no matter what is going on around you, where you are currently located, or how you feel in the moment. God gives us an identity that cannot be taken away. Unlike our health, our relationships, our address, our job, or our possessions.
God’s Word tells us that as a Christian:
We are a new creation-the old has passed and the new has come 2 Cor 5:17.
Our life is hidden with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3.
That while we are here on this earth, God can and will work all things together for our good. All things-the good, the bad and the ugly. Romans 8:28.
That He has gone to prepare a place for us and will come again and receive us to Himself. John 14:3.
That’s only 4 of the identity anchoring truths we find in God’s Word.
But do we believe them? Will we allow them to define us?
I believe that life is one big struggle with identity. As we face varied situations, as Christians, we must determine, will I act in a way that confirms my identity in Christ, or will I compromise and allow the situation to determine who I am and how I should respond?
God’s Word is filled with accounts of individuals who had this same choice to make- would what God said define them, or would some exterior trapping anchor their identity?
Daniel 3 gives us the account of individuals who had to make a choice, a choice to embrace and act upon their God given identity, which would cause them to be put to death, or just go with the flow and live. It might seem like a complex decision because its life and death on the line, but it came down to a simple choice. Because ultimately the choice was not about life and death, it was about WHO would define them.
2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
Daniel 3 tells us about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego’s defiance. They refused to bow to a golden image that the most powerful man on the earth at that time had crafted and commanded everyone in his Kingdom to worship. They knew the consequences for their defiance. But they also knew the commands and the power of Almighty God, the One True God whom they followed.
When we arrive in Chapter 3, these young men have endured a variety of trials that we are told about. One trial that ended in their captivity and two others since then that provided them with an opportunity to highlight their God given identity-Were they Jewish young men still serving the One True God in a foreign land, or were they Chaldeans in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar? They stood for the Lord. They determined that who they were did not change with their location or job. And they leaned into the Almighty God who was proving to them that even in this distant land, surrounded by idols and idol worshippers, He sees them and is able to intervene on their behalf. Their faith was anchored in WHO God IS, not WHAT He did or DID NOT do for them.
So, let’s glean from the lives of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego and learn how their identity enabled them to obey God even in a high stakes situation.
First, they are captive in body but not in mind. Romans 8:5-6, Colossians 3:1-3, Isaiah 26:3-4, and many other verses all speak to the reality that life and death are found in where you put your mind. Not in your circumstances!
The testimony of hundreds of missionaries and other Christians who were tortured for their faith all prove these verses to be true. Where they placed their mind determined life or death.
We buy the lie that our peace is dependent on our circumstances-if only this was better, or only that person wasn’t in my life or only my kids were a little bit older and didn’t need me all the time. Or if I were married, or if I were single, or if I made more money or if I had a nice house…. None of those things have any bearing on the truth of God’s Word. In other words, you can choose to set your mind on heavenly things while you endure the not so heavenly here on earth. And as that become your habit, you begin to experience more of heaven here on earth.
A mind stayed on the Spirit brings life. That is a fact.
So why don’t we experience that? Because it takes work and we would rather discover a secret way. Or we want to believe that it really is all about our circumstances, and place blame on others for our lack of life and peace. So, when a louder voice comes around, one who claims to have a better way, a hack to get around the difficulty, a proven method to follow that guarantees success and for $19.99 you too can learn their secret, we try that instead.
How many businesses profit off of people who are searching for an out, and are willing to sell an answer to us in the form of clarity, supplements, a secret formula, anything. We allow ourselves to be influenced by others who are willing to sell us a temporary, shallow version of comfort, when the comfort we seek is there all along-in the form of Presence. The Presence of God. Will we set our mind on Him? And find the life and peace we’re craving?
Second, their bindings did not define them.
We are a society who is defined by all the things that bind us. I’m not minimizing these by calling them out, but I am calling them out:
- Our diagnoses
- Our past
- Our trauma
- Our current struggle
How often I have made a bigger deal over the cords that hold me and the mighty men of valor who bound me than over the fact that God is WITH me. Even in this. It’s like I’m standing in the door of this fiery furnace not letting anyone see past me because I want to be validated by all the things that bind me when ONE who is like the Son of God wants to make Himself known to all who are watching. But I won’t let them see Him!
Were the things that bound them real? Yes.
Was the experience of being bound by mighty men of valor rough? Probably!
Does Scripture minimize this in anyway? No.
But we are told about them so that we can appreciate the miraculous intervention of God. Not so that we fixate on them and make them the main attraction.
Third, they knew God so they obeyed Him.
Do I know God enough to obey Him and trust Him with the outcome?
They knew that deliverance from King Neb was going to come-either through the fiery furnace in death, or through a miraculous intervention. But they left that up to God. They obeyed God’s Law and refused to worship any god but the One True God-YHWH. They left the outcome to Him.
Much of our obedience is based on an outcome that we pre-determine. If I do this, then God will bless me with this. We game the worthiness of our obedience. It’s a risk reward equation that we run multiple times a day. But what happens when God doesn’t show up in the way we expected Him to? What happens when our obedience doesn’t produce the outcome I thought it should? What happens when obedience means the worst outcome of all-death?
These three young men are a needed example of simple obedience. Yes, even when life and death are on the line. It still came down to simple obedience. They made it extremely clear that God was able to intervene, but if He chose not to, that didn’t mean that He lacked power or authority. They would obey Him even if that meant death. And it should have meant death!
Obedience in the “big things” happens because you’ve been obedient in the small things. We all think that we’ll get it right and obey when it matters, but that’s not true. The discipline of obedience shows when you’re faced with the life and death trials.
Their statement and boldness was the result of years of disciplined obedience to the Lord. We endure trials and through them, we learn our God and His ways and His heart, and we learn that His presence is often most known as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And once we emerge from the trial we see how God worked and how He worked better and greater things than we could have even imagined.
So what about us? How does this ancient account of 3 young men who embraced their God given identity apply to us here in 21st century America? Well let’s go back and consider the three points:
- They are captive in body but not in mind.
So, application question #1: Where is your mind? What do you dwell on as you go throughout your day?
Are you choosing to take those thoughts captive, to the obedience of Christ and speak truth to yourself? This is an area of discipline and you strengthen your ability to put your mind on the things of God every time you choose to put your mind on the things of God.
Here are some practices to help you in this discipline:
Bible reading and audio Bibles
Bible Study
Memorizing Scripture (scripture to music)
Worship music
Prayer cards
You have to have an instead of, a quick and easy instead of, or you will give into stinking thinking and lose the battle. And you have to realize that the battle for your mind is a war that you will wage for the rest of your life. You will never “arrive”. While you’re in the flesh, you will never stop fighting for the mind of the Spirit. But God has equipped you with the necessary tools and armor to wage the long hard fight!
2. Their bindings did not define them.
Application #2: What will you highlight-the difficulty or the presence of God? Too many Christians are known by what’s wrong with them and not what God says about them.
Are we just supposed to ignore or suppress the difficulties and pain? Plaster a smile on your face- I’m fine, it’s fine, everything is fine. No.
You and I all know that there is a way to talk about our lives that highlights the goodness of God. It’s possible. It might seem weird or manufactured at first, but it is possible. What are a few ways that God is showing up as you endure this difficulty? This will require you to look for glimpses of Him, not just your pain. A great tool for this is a gratitude journal. Every day in your quiet time write three things you’re grateful for-but the simple discipline of looking for the good will help you to see that you’re not forgotten by God and that His Presence is with you.
And here’s a great line that I stole from a friend when she was in the midst of a terrible trial of losing her mom: This is so hard, but I’m drawing closer to the Lord. She didn’t minimize the trial, but she did maximize God’s presence with her in it.
In Psalm 46:1 we read: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. This verse has carried countless Christians through trials. Have you ever interrogated this verse and looked at the parts of speech of these different words? See, we would think the word help is the action word. But it’s not. The verb, the action word, is the word “present”. His presence is His action toward us. What a glorious comfort. He is present-not some fly by night God who runs at any inconvenience. No! He remains! He sticks around! He makes Himself known and remains available to us in the most awful and most terrifying of situations.
3. They knew God so they obeyed Him.
Application Point #3: Determine today that you will only be concerned with knowing God and obeying Him. We must leave the outcome to Him.
Seasoned Christians who have walked with God for years are not ruffled by many things. They have seen Him do amazing things, beyond their comprehension and they are more than willing to leave things with Him. These Christians simply obey. We get caught up with questions and wanting guarantees, and they smile and move past the issue quickly. Because they know God and they have witnessed His faithfulness in countless ways-ways that they can lean into when they are faced with another trial.
Every time we make a choice to obey God we strengthen our spirit in the discipline of obedience. We choose the Spirit over the flesh and declare to our flesh and to the watching world that obedience to God is WORTH it. Especially when we don’t understand why we’re being asked to do this thing. Especially when it seems hard. Especially when another option is available to us, one that doesn’t require the guaranteed pain that obeying God will bring.
Alan Redpath said this very simple line in one of his sermons, “Often God cannot do what He wants to do for you because you will not do what you should.”
Ouch.
Obedience is worth it because He is worth it. Because our identity is a servant of the Most High God and we will prove that by doing what He says.
The testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego continues to proclaim that God is who He says He is. And if we are willing to live out who God says WE are, we will have everything we need to endure whatever comes our way. Whether we’re walking in glorious victories or through deep valleys.
Be who God says you are. Stop letting everything else determine your identity. Receive your identity from God and enjoy the front row seat to what God will do for the person’s whose heart is loyal toward Him.
