But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light .  1 Peter 2:9

Many of us find it hard to identify ourselves as priests. If we grew up in mainline evangelical churches such as the Baptists, Churches of Christ, Methodists, Bible Churches, Nazarenes, etc. there were pastors,  but they were not designated as priests.  That kind of distinction between “clergy” and “laity” was minimized.  Pastors did not wear distinct garb marking them as priests and churches where there were distinct roles and dress for priest were probably viewed as “unbiblical” in that regard.

If you grew up Catholic or Episcopalian, you would be familiar with the idea of priests but would still find it difficult to view yourself in that role.  In those churches, the priesthood was reserved for those who had been through rigorous training in seminaries and who knew all the nuances of sacred rituals and church procedures for everything.  These men and women were seen as the spiritually elite who had a unique call on their lives that few could aspire to.

And yet, the New Testament identifies all believers as priests in the kingdom of God. The priests of the Old Testament – Aaron and his sons – were chosen by God and anointed with a holy oil that consecrated them and set them apart for sacred service.  We too have been chosen by God and anointed with the Holy Spirit, who consecrates us and sets us apart for sacred service. The Old Testament priests served in the temple, but now we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Only the priests could come into the presence of God on behalf of the people with fear and trembling, but we can come before the throne of grace at anytime with confidence for the presence of God remains with us. We literally live in his presence because we carry his presence. In a sense, each of us is a living ark of the covenantcarrying his law and his presence within us. The priests were tasked with teaching God’s people the will and the ways of God by making the written word understandable to them.  We are commanded to teach one another but, more than that, we are to present the word of God to those who are not yet his people.

Aaron and his sons dressed in white linen garments that marked them as priests. The white linen symbolized purity. We are clothed with Christ (Gal.3:27) and sealed by the Spirit.  We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

All of this is to say that you possess great standing in the kingdom of God and are set apart from every person on earth who is not a follower of Jesus.  As priests we are authorized to offer up worship, to offer sacrifices, to make the word of God understandable to the world around us, and to represent men before God in our prayers.  Only we can enter the presence of God to do so.

In addition to that, priests were those designated to bestow blessings on men.  In the Book of Numbers we read, “TheLordsaid to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lordbless you and keep you; the Lordmake his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lordturn his face toward you and give you peace.’ ‘So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.’”

As the priests declared a blessing over Israel, God would release the blessing.  We are instructed throughout the New Testament to bless men and not curse them…even our enemies.  We are to bless because it is the Father’s heart to bless and we can bless because we are priests.  Because you are a priest, you may direct the blessings of heaven and God will honor your direction. He has given you authority to bless. Because God always desires to work in partnership with his people, he often waits on us to bless, before he releases the blessing. As priests, it is our privilege and responsibility to pray for people, to bless them, to give them an understanding of God’s word,and to administer the sacraments of the church – communion and baptism.  Because we are all priests, we all have the authority to do those things.

More than anything, as his priests, we are to faithfully represent God before men. In the same sense that ambassadors represent the King, priests represent the Father to men as well as men to the Father. We have a great high priest, Jesus Christ, who will live forever while we serve under him.  Our priesthood is not the Aaronic Priesthood of the Old Testament but, according to Hebrews, we serve under Jesus who is of the eternal order of Melchizedek, a much greater priesthood than that of Aaron  (see Heb. 7:1-21). We also will be priests forever serving with Jesus.  Remember that priests are anointed, consecrated, and set apart from the world for sacred service.  We should live as those who are always about our father’s business and as those who lives are dedicated to those things that are sacred.

Again, you have great standing in the Kingdom of Heaven if you can receive that by faith.  You are made in the image of God and are a child of the King, royalty in the courts of heaven, an ambassador of Christ, and a priest clothed in Christ who is anointed with the Holy Spirit and appointed to represent God to men and men to God. Because of who you are, Christ has given you power and authority over the enemy to do the works that he did and to destroy the works of the devil.

All this has come to us by grace and not by any efforts of our own.  Because of that we should live a life of thankfulness and humility.  We should walk with great confidence but not arrogance. We should be a source of blessing to all those around us and our goal should be to always be about the Father’s business because that is what we were born to do  when we were born again.

To know who you are and to receive that by faith is a great gift and is the key to living the abundant life that Jesus promised. There are many amazing things in heaven with your name on them.  Those things were purchased by the blood of Jesus and he wants you to receive each of those things as your inheritance, but they come to you only by faith – faith in who Jesus is and who you are in Jesus.  Ask the Lord to give you a revelation of who you are in Christ because to know that is about the most essential thing you can discover because you will only become who you believe you are.  Blessings in Him.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

2 Corinthians 5:20

Part of our identity in Christ is that we represent him to the world. To represent a person is to re-present that individual by conveying what he or she would say in the same situation or by doing what he or she would do if physically present. Ambassadors and representatives do not pursue their personal agendas but present, in some official capacity, the will of the one they represent.

Jesus was the perfect representative of the Father. He said that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father. He said in other places that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what the Father was speaking to him.  That is perfect representation.  We are to be the same kind of representative and should want to be able to say, “If you have seen me, you have seen Jesus.”

It’s important to know that we are not just unofficial representatives like someone in a fan club, but are appointed to represent Jesus and to be his witnesses to a lost world. Jesus told his disciples, “’As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn.20:21-22). They were given the Holy Spirit that they might represent him faithfully.  We are not just to tell people about Jesus as some historical figure, but are to say and do what he would do if he were physically present. Remember his declaration regarding those who follow him. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (Jn.14:12-14). Notice that Jesus did not say that those who had faith in him could do what he had been doing, but that they woulddo what he had been doing. Not only would they duplicate what he had been doing but would do even greater things.  Jesus said that doing those things is a mark of faith.  Too much of the church today says that doing those things makes your faith suspect.

To do what he had been doing is again the idea of re-presenting him to the world.  When his followers preach the gospel, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and raise the dead they are re-presenting him because those things are done in his name.  He said that anyone who had faith would do those things because he was sending the Spirit. He insisted that the first apostles stay in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit so that they could be effective witnesses on his behalf.  He gave power and authority to his followers then, and if we are to do the same things, he must give us power and authority now.

We are a people, then, who walk in the power and authority of heaven as Christ’s duly authorized representatives on the earth. Of course, we must have faith for that privilege and responsibility, but it is what every believer is called to be. As his children, others should be able to see the Father in us.  As ambassadors of Christ, others should clearly see him though our representation. As we carry out kingdom business, heaven has our back.  God will resource us as we faithfully represent his Son and Jesus is willing to do mighty, supernatural things through us because it brings glory to the Father.

So, as we build on our identity in Christ we should know that we are made in his image, that we are sons and daughter of the king and royalty in the spiritual realm.  We are also appointed and anointed to be his ambassadors or representatives.  Power and authority is available to those who will walk in their position through faith. Because of your position, you are already known in heaven.  Paul tells us that we are currently citizens of heaven and that we are currently seated with Christ in heavenly realms. That means we now have positions of authority in the courts of heaven because of our position in Christ.

How would it change us and change the church if we saw ourselves as God sees us and walked in the confident security of citizens of heaven, official representatives of the king, and children in the household of God?  Instead, Satan tries continually to convince us that we are weak, broken, insignificant, and barely tolerated by the Father.  He tries to convince us that we have no real value in the kingdom and are no different from those who are not in Christ other than being forgiven.

The truth is that we have been born again and are new creations in Christ. We are incredibly  different from the world with a destiny we can’t even imagine. The world is dark; we are light.  The world is dead; we possess eternal life.  The world is alienated from God; we are his children. The world is empty; we have the Holy Spirit living within us. The world resides in the dominion of darkness; we are citizens of heaven and reign now in the kingdom of his dear Son. Again, the first step in fulfilling our destiny is to accept by faith who we are in Christ and to begin to say what God says about us.  Why don’t you actively begin to do that?

I am just beginning a series on knowing who we are in Christ. An accurate sense of our self-image or our identity is a critical element in our walk with Christ.  God has gone to great lengths to reveal who we are in his Son and so that knowledge must be essential. The very first thing God reveals about us in his written word is that we are made in the image of God.

As Genesis unfolds, we soon discover that God not only had a burning desire to create a universe but, at least on one planet, he had a desire to create living beings made in his own image. Since God is love (1 Jn.4:8), I believe his very nature prompted him to create man so that he could multiply his expressions of love and receive love as well. A mother’s yearnings to have children must be slightly akin to the yearning that God felt to create us.

I must admit that the idea of being made in the image of God is a bit mind-boggling. Theologians have debated exactly what that means for millennia.  Whatever it means to be made in God’s image, it certainly means that we have enough characteristics in common with the Creator to communicate with him, to give and receive love from him, for his Spirit to take up residence within us, for deity to put on flesh and live as one of us, to think as the Father thinks, and to be called his children and his friends …not his pets.

The Psalmist declared, “What is man that you are mindful of him…you made him just a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps.8:4-5). Of all creation, including powerful and majestic angels, only man is said to bemade in God’s image. Scripture implies that we have even greater standing in heaven than his awe-inspiring angels. Although we were made a little lower than the heavenly beings, Paul reveals that those of us who are in Christ will actually sit in judgment over angels (I Cor. 6:3).  In addition, the writer of Hebrews tells us that the angels were created to minister to or serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb.1:14). That includes you.

This blog will come out on Christmas Day.  It is a day for reflecting on the amazing truth that God has made us in his own image and, in doing so, values each of us enough to give us the gift of his Son, wrapped in flesh and destined to be a sacrifice. We tend to view Christmas through the lens of Hallmark movies and Christmas cards that depict the nativity as clean, bright, and serene. You know… a peaceful Mary and Joseph with contented cows lowing in the manger and antiseptic, bright sheep bleating in the background.  The shepherds are there along with the three wise men in clean, royal robes looking as they just caught a limo from the Bethlehem Hilton.  Our view of the birth of Jesus is quite sanitized.  As we do that, the cost of God, putting on flesh and being born to a virgin in a small village in Israel is often overlooked.

The cost of his entry into this world began nine months earlier. It began with fearful encounters with angels who had to calm Mary and encourage Joseph.  The birth of the great King began with scandal as this unwed virgin first had to break the news to her fiancé that she was pregnant and later face her family and friends who were “surprised” at how quickly she became pregnant after a hurried wedding.  Joseph’s first response was a plan to divorce her since she had clearly violated her vows with him.  It took the visitation of an angel in a dream to convince him that she might have been telling the truth when she shared her outlandish story of being impregnated by the Holy Spirit. I suspect Joseph questioned his dream from time to time in the following years that they were married. In her ninth month, Joseph was called from Galilee to Bethlehem to register in a census. It seems that things back home must not have been that good for her to feel compelled to take that journey with her husband.  Most probably, the birth of Christ was in Spring rather than the winter since shepherds would not be in the fields at night with their sheep, except in the lambing season of March and April.  Still it was a hard trip and even a dangerous trip for the little couple  nine months pregnant.  There is no evidence that any family members from Nazareth travelled with them, which again suggests that the pregnancy of Mary had not been celebrated back home.  After the birth, they remained in Bethlehem instead of returning to their hometown which again points at a scandal back home that they did not want to try to explain away once more.

The wise men showed up two years after the birth, when they had first seen the “King’s star.”  Mary and Joseph were in a home in Bethlehem by then, not a stable. The wise men’s visit with Herod was not very wise and their audience with him set in motion the death of many innocent Hebrew boys as a result.  Before Herod acted to protect his throne from the threat of this rival king, Joseph was warned in a dream to pull up stakes and disappear into the nation of Egypt.   God had funded the trip with gold, frankincense, and myrrh but they were still a hunted couple on the run in a foreign land where Hebrews were not particularly welcome.  There was more, but I want you to think of the cost of God coming into this world on our behalf… even on the front end. Thirty years later, the ultimate price would be paid for our ransom but this who entry into the world of man came at a great cost to one who had sat on a throne in glory hearing only his praises sung by angles before entering into a world of insult, danger, poverty, and pain.

Jesus not only died for you, but was born for you. Born into scandal he became a political refugee before his second birthday and his parents feared discovery by Herod for years after his birth.  Mary and Joseph did return to Nazareth after their stint in Egypt, but I’m certain that questions still remained about Mary’s pregnancy, the birth of this child, and where they had been for two years.  First century Palestine was not as relaxed about pregnancy outside of marriage as we are.

The only conclusion is that you are of amazing and extreme value in the eyes of God. Made in his image might mean many things, but it certainly means that you have great significance, even greater than the angels themselves. Not only did God make you, but he redeemed you even after we, as a race, had rebelled against the king.  So, this Christmas celebrate Jesus, but also celebrate who you are in him…crowned with glory and honor and made just a little lower than the heavenly beings.

As we begin this series, I want to start fleshing out our identity in Christ by talking more about the importance of identity. As I have said before, there is probably nothing that impacts us more than our identity or our sense of self.  Most of us spend our entire lives trying to determine who we are and whether we really matter – whether our lives really matter.   We are born into this world without a notion of who we are or what we are. We develop ideas about those critical issues mostly from the way others respond to us.

If I am nurtured, loved, celebrated, supported, and valued when I am young, I will grow up believing that I am significant, competent, and worthy of love because I was treated that way. I will expect others to value me because I was valued by my family and I was told over and over that I was significant, capable, and that I belonged. I will be open, confident, and secure in who I am.  Because of that, most people will respond positively to me so my beliefs about myself will be reinforced and my confidence will be a catalyst in doing well in school, sports and career.  I won’t be perfect, but I will have a foundation for believing that I matter and that I have worth.  Because of that, I will be able to give and receive love at a reasonable level and will have some resilience when I am criticized. In short I will believe that if others knew me, they would probably love or appreciate me.  I will also believe that God can love me.

On the other hand, if I am born into an environment of neglect, abuse, criticism, or perfectionism, I will typically feel that there something defective in me that others can’t love.  Why else would the people in my life treat me so badly? I will feel that I can never measure up and I will live with a sense of shame – a sense that there is something unacceptable about me.  I will expect rejection and will often act in ways that invite the rejection I fear.  I may be withdrawn or always critical of others as I try to level the playing field by bringing others down to my level. I may cover up with a false arrogance or bravado and may try to cover up my mistakes by always blaming others for my miscues.  Eventually, my behaviors will push people away and my negative self-image will be reinforced.  Ultimately, I will believe that if people really knew me, they would reject me. I will also doubt that God loves me.

My identity affects my emotional health, my performance, my relationships, and even my spiritual life.  My experience tells me that most of us live on the negative end of the self-esteem continuum and build all kinds of defense mechanisms into our lives to cover our sense of defectiveness. Remember, before sin, Adam and Eve felt no shame and walked in the Garden with God in an intimate relationship while naked.  But after their sin, they tried desperately to hide, cover up, and blame others for their own decision.   To Satan’s delight, shame had crept in. Adam and Eve no longer felt acceptable.  They felt fear for the first time…fear of rejection and fear of punishment.  Our own sense of defectiveness and rejection causes us to do the same things and we pay the price at every level.

Satan loves to reinforce our fear of unworthiness, insignificance, and rejection at every turn. Spirits of condemnation, rejection, and accusation move us to take offense easily at anything that has the slightest aroma of criticism. He tries hard to convince us that even God can’t love us and so we pray with little faith and even less expectation. We see ourselves as messed up and insignificant and cannot see ourselves doing anything great in the kingdom of God.

As a result, believers continue to be angry, depressed, easily offended, fearful, doubting and medicated even after they are saved.  I am convinced that many believers stay that way because they believe they are the same inadequate, broken, insignificant, defective person they always were except they are forgiven. It is not enough to know that we are forgiven, but we need to truly know that we are new creations with an amazing position in the kingdom of God. We will not be transformed until we believe who we are in Christ.  Next week, we will begin to consider who we are in Jesus in detail.  We will begin with the amazing fact that we are made in the image of God.  Blessings.

If you listen to much Christian music and pay attention to the themes, you will have noticed lately, how many songs have risen to the top of the charts that carry the theme ofiIdentityor who we are in Christ.  Hillsong’s Who You Say I Am, Jason Gray’s Remind Me who I Am, Bethel’s No Longer Slaves, etc. are just a few that focus on who the Father has made us to be in Christ.

If you reflect on Christian music through the years, certain themes rise to the surface at different times.  I believe the Holy Spirit directs much of the Christian music that is born in each decade or generation and that music undergirds foundations that need to be laid in believers for his upcoming purposes and events in the world.  Right now, identityis on the front burner. It’s not that it hasn’t always been important.  God has always gone to extreme lengths throughout history to affirm who we are in Jesus as his new creations.  But in this current culture of fading family identity, compromised truths in the church, shifting definitions of gender and marriage, and a heightened war against Christianity, it is especially critical that we know who we are…not as it is defined by self, culture, or government…but by God who operates from eternal truths and values.

David wrote, “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. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps.139:13-16).

This Psalm reveals God’s involvement and sovereignty in the lives of individuals.  From the point of conception, God’s hand is upon each person. He creates that individual’s inmost being (his or her temperament, gifts, abilities, etc.) as well as some physical characteristics. Then, he says that every day has been ordained for us and written in his book.  I believe that God ordains opportunities for us which are the good worksprepared in advance for us in Ephesians 2:10. When the opportunity arises, we can still say “yes” or “no” to the moment, but God ordained the opportunity.

Concerning our identity, God has set an identity within us that coincides with the purposes he has ordained for our lives. Biblically, it is not me, culture, government, or science that determines who I should be, but rather God. Knowing who God has made me to be, anchors me in who I am and the call he has placed on my life.  We need to actively be speaking identity over our children, ourselves, and one another in a world where nothing seems certain or absolute any more.

In our Free Indeed ministry, we emphasize identity a great deal and even ask our participants to read out loud a declaration of their identity in Christ at least once a day for 60 days to renew their mind in God’s truth about them.  It is one of the most transformative activations we do in our eight-week series.

Because of the cultural (demonic) assault on our identity in this generation, beginning next week, I want to spend several blogs discussing who we are in Christ, the amazing value he has given each of us, and why it is so important to know that.  I hope you will join me for this important series.

As most of us already know, a person’s identity shapes the life of that individual in powerful ways – for good or for bad. What we believe about ourselves either releases us to walk through life in confidence or shackles us with a sense of impending failure. What we believe about ourselves either makes us secure in ourselves and in our relationships or insecure in ourselves and our relationships. Our identity or self-image allows us to anticipate being loved and accepted by others or keeps us from believing that others can ever love us – including God himself.

We could go on, but most of us are well schooled in the ramifications of self-image. Sense the 1960’s the world of psychology, counseling, and education has emphasized the issue. However, the world has failed in its efforts to create positive identities in children through participation trophies and schools without failure. They have created children who have not discovered who they are through struggles and they have not attached the values of hard work and achievement to the idea that each child is “special.” This model of making sure children never lose at anything, fail at anything, or miss out on anything has created a generation of spoiled children incapable of being productive, resilient adults who are eventually forced to live in the real world.

In one sense it is true that every person is special and certainly valuable. Every individual on the planet is made in the image of God and has been made for a unique purpose with unique gifts and temperament.  However, the idea that we get rewarded just because we show up or just because our name was on the roster (even if we didn’t show up), violates God’s law of sowing and reaping – you get out of something what you put into it.

That principle is one of God’s great inventions. It is a principle that operates in both the natural and the spiritual realm. It teaches us the value of good decisions, the pain of bad decisions, excellence in what we do, and the destructive nature of sin and laziness. Without this principle we are like individuals with severe neuropathy who have no feeling in their feet. Without feeling, those men and women can’t enjoy the pleasures of hot water or soft clover nor can they feel a piece of glass or a thorn pierce their foot. Without the pain, they won’t know that injury has occurred and that treatment is needed. Infection may set in and a minor injury can become a major health crisis. Bad decisions that produce hurtful consequences send a message of pain to the brain and we have the potential to learn to avoid a bad decision the next time – maybe even a soul-threatening decision.

The positive self-image model currently exercised in America is based on performance rather than on who a person is. The assumption that losing a game or receiving a failing grade will destroy someone’s self-esteem is simply wrong. Self-esteem comes from the discovery that who I am and my value is not based on performance (or the illusion of performance), but on being a child of God and the character that identity instills in me. We must lose in order to discover that we don’t always have to win in order to be loved and valued. We have to suffer hardship to become resilient in a world that won’t treat us as an entitled person unless it is to make us dependent on the one giving the awards. We have to learn to work hard and excel because in the real world we won’t receive a raise or a promotion just for showing up at the office. We have to learn that our performance does not establish our value, although our actions will determine other outcomes in our lives.

In the kingdom of heaven, identity is what keeps us on track. It is not an identity based on behavior or performance but on who we are in Christ. For years, the church has tried to shape and grade its people through the grid of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. That is performance-based identity and leaves the impression that God also accepts us or rejects us on the basis of our behaviors. But the message of grace is just the opposite. We are loved, accepted, and valued because of what Christ has done, not what we have done. Our value is established by whose we are not by what we can do.

In the kingdom, my identity dictates my behaviors rather than my behaviors dictating my identity. When I have a clear identity, I live and behave a certain way because of who I am and who my father is. Life is simply about being a follower of Jesus and a child of God and living up to that I am rather than trying to succeed or avoid failure in order to have value.

My self-talk is very important in this arena. Instead of talking to myself about my behaviors, I need to talk to myself about who I am in Christ. Beating myself up for sinful behaviors does not change me at the core. In fact, it usually undermines my identity. Scripture says that Christ became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God. How can I become the righteousness of God if I constantly define myself by my sins? Taking on a new identity changes me at the core and my behaviors follow.

That’s why it is so important to divorce ourselves from the idea that our worth and value are based on our performance. Your special standing with God did not come as an entitlement to keep you from feeling bad about yourself. It was earned by Jesus for you at a great cost to him. We work hard, then, and strive for excellence as Christians, not to be loved, but because we are loved and want to be like the one who loves us.

An interesting study was done about dieters several years ago. The research showed that those wanting to stay on a diet did better or worse according to their language. A person who would say, “I can’t eat chocolate” did not fare as well as the person who said, “I don’t eat chocolate.” The first group was focused on avoiding a behavior. The second group made not eating chocolate part of his or her identity. In your struggle to overcome sin, a greater focus on who you are in Christ will produce much better outcomes in the long run than focusing on sin. That is true when it comes to helping our children or other adults become the person God wants them to be as well. Food for thought today.

Okay…so I grew up in the late 60’s and 70’s when Jesus freaks and the Jesus Movement were a part of the underground, hippy culture. There was a song called Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum – a kind of a one hit wonder. It sounds very new age with contemporary ears but the theology behind it was sound if you got a little explanation. One verse declared, “I’m not a sinner, no I’ve never sinned. I’ve got a friend in Jesus.”

To some that sounded arrogant or downright blasphemous. After all, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). But another verse confirms the theology. “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb.10:14). On the one hand, we certainly have all sinned and continue to do so less that we did, but on the other hand, God does not count those sins against us. If you inspected the ledgers of heaven, you would find no record of sin – past, present, or future. As far as God is concerned, you’re not a sinner, no you’ve never sinned cause you have a friend in Jesus. We need to get that truth in our hearts.

So many of us focus on our past, our sins, and our failures while God is focusing on our righteousness in Christ. It’s not that he doesn’t recognize our sins, but he does not define us by those sins. He defines us by the righteousness that is ours in Jesus. The passage above from Hebrews declares that by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. By the sacrifice of Jesus, you have been given a positional or legal status of sinlessness – forever – which extends both into the past and the future. God always relates to us on the basis of our position while he works on our condition. He is in the process of making us holy – matching our condition to our position – but he is not focused on our sin but, rather, who we are in His Son.

We would do well to so the same. Too many believers get focused on their sins, failures and spiritual shortcomings. Whatever we focus on becomes our identity. If we see ourselves and define ourselves as sinners in Christ, we will constantly live up to that expectation. If we see ourselves as righteous and holy in Christ that will become our identity and we will begin to live up to that set of expectations.

Many of us try to motivate ourselves to be more like Christ with criticism and name-calling. If we did that to our children we would be labeled as bad parents, maybe even verbally abusive. We recognize the power of self-image (identity) in our children and work to encourage and affirm them at every opportunity but often fail to recognize that principle in ourselves. Faith declares that what God says is true is true, even if it does not appear to be that way. By faith, we need to say what God says is true about us, so that God’s truth is deposited more deeply in our hearts and minds. It’s not arrogance; it is good theology that appreciates what the blood of Christ has done for us.

So…the next time the devil stirs up accusation and condemnation and tries to convince you of what a spiritual failure you are, just pull out a little Norman Greenbaum and sing in his face, “I’m not a sinner, no I’ve never sinned. I’ve got a friend in Jesus!” It’s good theology. Be blessed and sinless in Him today.

None of us enjoy rejection. We don’t wake up in the morning excited about the possibilities of being rejected multiple times during the day. We may wake up with an expectation of rejection, but not a desire for it. Rejection wounds like nothing else because it suggests that we are unacceptable, unworthy, unlovable, or defective.

Contrary to most psychological theories today, I believe that we are born with a deep-seated sense of defectiveness that has been passed down to us since the Garden of Eden and the fall of man. Its hard to recognize but at some level it nags at us. Remember, before Adam and Eve took a bite from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they walked around naked, “in front of God and everybody,” and felt no fear and no shame. They were completely secure in their sense of who they were and in their relationship with God and one another. Then they ate and the universe radically shifted. Suddenly, they were afraid and ashamed. They were hiding from God, scrambling to cover themselves, and blaming everyone else for what had just happened.

As a result, children (and adults) have an innate need for affirmation. Some crying is simply to find out if someone will come and comfort them so that they have a sense of significance in their own little world. Why do most small children want to be held? Why do they constantly cry, “Look at me!” if not for some kind of affirmation? Why do they constantly bring their “art” work to parents for some kind of approval, seeking coveted space on the refrigerator door? I think it is because, they are uncertain of their worth and their significance. They want someone to tell them that they are okay because, deep inside, something hints that they may not be.

Why does it take ten positive statements to overcome one negative statement? I think it is because our default setting is a feeling of defectiveness that hurts deeply when something or someone suggests that we are, indeed, defective. Children who get healthy attention, nurture, and affirmation growing up seem to cope fairly well with the niggling question of whether or not they really matter. Those who are not nurtured, but are abandoned, abused, or neglected fight a terrible uphill battle with rejection most of their lives.

Satan maneuvered Adam and Eve into a scenario that had the flavor of rejection – expulsion from the immediate presence of God. They did not see removal from the Garden as discipline or even grace but feared that it meant total rejection and abandonment by their Father. I think Satan fueled that fear. How many of us have seen a child (or an adult child) goad someone into breaking the rules and then begin to crow, “Oh, you’re going to get it now!” I sense that echoes Satan’s follow up to, “you won’t surely die.” Rejection taps into that most ancient of fears and wounds us at the deepest levels.

Rejection comes in all forms…neglect, abuse, criticism, slander, accusation, abandonment, harsh and demeaning words, being ignored, unfaithfulness in a relationships, being passed over for promotion, etc. Rejection hurts because we tend to accept the evaluation of the one rejecting us. We receive their evaluation and conclude that we must indeed be unworthy of love or consideration. Our greatest fear – that we are defective and unworthy – seems to be validated by experiences of rejection, which simply deepen our sense of defectiveness.

Jesus understood our dilemma when he told us that when the world rejects us, it is not us that the world is rejecting, but him. At the core of the gospel is the message that God counts us as immensely significant, that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and that he loved us enough to die for us. Not only that, but he has taken away our shame and made us worthy in Jesus. We are new creations, sons and daughters of the King, with an inheritance of glory. But even with that revelation, we are fragile creatures in this arena of self-image and rejection – so much so that demonic spirits come to magnify the rejection.

In most cases of demonization, the first demon on the scene in a person’s life is a spirit of rejection, who constantly accuses and condemns us, so that our early experiences of rejection, which tapped into our ancient sense of defectiveness, never heal. It is as if the demon keeps tearing the scab off the wound so that it cannot mend. That spirit then projects a filter, so that even innocent statements sound like hateful criticism. Discipline feels like abuse. Correction feels like victimization and humiliation. Because of that filter, our over-the-top pain response to innocent or neutral statements by others, invites rejection because people do not want to be around people who overreact. That demonic filter even makes us immune to compliments and affirmation by suggesting that the affirmation is insincere or that it would not be said if that person really knew us. All of that magnifies our pain and fear of more rejection.

Because of this foundational hurt in the human soul that gives the devil such opportunity, Paul says, “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only that which is good for building up the other person according to knowledge” (Eph.4:29). The writer of Proverbs sums it up this way: “Reckless words pierce like a sword” (Pr.12:18).

We need to be a constant source of blessing and affirmation to the world around us. When we do need to point out areas that must be improved, we need to begin with sincere affirmations before we get to the problem. Notice how Paul addressed churches to whom he was writing. He was nearly always writing about some problem that needed to be corrected but, inevitably, hr started by affirming his love and telling them the things he appreciated about them before discussing the problem. He then ended with more affirmation of his love. Jesus took the same approach in his letters to the seven churches of Asia in the Book of Revelation.

The world, for the most part, struggles with a sense of rejection and the enemy fuels the flames. Encouraging, affirming words are like oxygen to a drowning man for most people. The tongue has the power of life and death (Pr.18:21) and we are to be a source of life to all those around us – as much as possible. If we are the one who is tormented by rejection, we need to seek healing from the Lord and get in the business of rebuking spirits of rejection, condemnation, and accusation.

In Christ, we are anything but rejected and we need to make a habit of saying so. We need to make a habit of saying, about ourselves, what God says about us while we ask the Holy Spirit for a revelation of that truth in our hearts. If we are in Christ, we are not rejected, not defective, not unworthy, not incompetent, and never alone. We are loved, glorified, and destined for greatness. That is the truth that sets us free. As believers, we should affirm those truths in ourselves as well as in others and we should do so at every opportunity.  Be blessed today by who you are in Jesus.

I want to add one more thought in this short series about who we are in Christ. Our church staff just completed a planning retreat in the hill country of Texas at a beautiful sight on the Guadalupe River. A gorgeous country chapel made of Austin stone stood serenely on a hill just above here we were staying. Each morning we hiked up the hill to have a devotional. One of the prominent features of the chapel was its tall stained-glass windows depicting saints who were always dressed in flowing robes with angelic faces. Some were notable while others were not recognized by us since we do not honor “the saints” in the same way in our community church.

I was reminded, however, that the title of “saint” has been reserved for a few outstanding men and women of faith in many branches of the Lord’s body leaving most believers with the impression that the term is only applied to a few “super-Christians” in each generation. However, that is not the biblical use of the term. The term “saint” is used about 60 times in the New Testament but never attached to the name of an individual such as St. Paul, St. Peter, etc. Those accolades were attached decades and centuries later by the church –especially the Catholic Church.

Biblically, the word translated “saint” is from the Greek word hagioi and refers to all believers as “holy ones.” To be holy is to be sanctified and to be sanctified is literally to be “specially set apart for service unto God.” In the Jewish temple, items were set apart and often labeled for use in either sacred ceremonies or for profane or ordinary circumstances. Those set apart for sacred used were termed “Holy Unto Jehovah.” Once designated for sacred service, they were never again to be used for profane, ordinary, or secular functions.

As a believer, you are a saint. You have been especially set apart for service unto Jehovah. You are Holy Unto Jehovah and your life should reflect that special position. Remember, Jesus told his disciples that they did not choose him but that he had chosen them (Jn.15:16). You have been chosen by God and having been chosen you have been separated from the world and declared holy in his sight. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col.3:12).

The temple of God in Jerusalem was holy and everything in it was sacred because the presence of God dwelt in the Holy of Holies. But now, you are the temple of God and his presence dwells within you. As a believer, in the eyes of God you are different from all other men or women in the world. I think it is likely that in the spiritual realm there is a designation on you that marks you as belonging to Jehovah and, perhaps, the very phrase Holy Unto Jehovah identifies you as one who belongs to him. That sets you apart from all those in both the natural and spiritual realms who have no faith in God and who are not in Christ Jesus. You are one of his Saints. Maybe your condition does not yet always reflect that sacredness as much as it should, but your position in the kingdom is definitely a saint of the Most High God.

Remember who you are and the next time you step into a chapel or a cathedral full of stain glass depicting “the saints” you may sincerely ask, “So…where is my window?”

I keep being reminded that our view of God and our view of how God views us (say that three times as fast as you can) is essential to moving in the power of God. To a great extent the power of God in our lives will be expressed through the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts, of course, are given rather than earned.  Many of us fail to receive the gifts we desire because we somehow believe that God does not esteem us enough to entrust those gifts to us.  Many of us still see God as an all-powerful, all-knowing deity who is first and foremost in the judgment business. We cast ourselves in the role of Belshazzar who was told by God that he had been “weighed in the balance and found lacking” (Dan.5:27).

However, judgment is not God’s primary business because judgment is not primary in God’s heart.  When God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle he was very specific and he told Moses to make everything exactly according to the plan or blueprint he would be given. Everything in the tabernacle was specifically ordained because the tabernacle was designed to reveal God’s nature to his people.  At the very core of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies and in that room sat the Ark of the Covenant. Moses was given very specific instructions about the ark.

They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. “You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it. …“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. “Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. “The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat. “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel. (Ex.25:17-22)

The ark was essentially a wooden box covered with gold in which the tablets of stone that had been given to Moses would be stored and carried as the Hebrews moved from place to place in the wilderness. The Holy Place (the room outside the Holy of Holies) and the Holy of Holies were to represent the throne room of God in heaven and the ark was to represent his throne. In Isaiah 6, we get a vision of God’s throne room in heaven and around the throne the Seraphim are crying “Holy. Holy. Holy.”  If you want an earthly analogy for the seraphim it would be the royal chorus who sing praises in the presence of the king.  Other angelic beings associated with the throne of God are the cherubim.  These angels might be compared to the palace guard.  In the first chapter of Ezekiel the prophet sees a terrible storm coming toward Israel and a vision of God coming in judgment upon the nation.  In chapters 9 and 10 he tells us that the creatures he saw in his vision were the cherubim who were carrying God on his throne, as if it were a war chariot, as he came in judgment in chapter one.  We first discover cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword after Adam and Eve were forced to leave.  Their purpose was to let no sinful man enter the Garden or the presence of God. In the making of the ark, cherubim were to be cast in gold and placed on both ends of the cover of the ark in which the Law of Moses was placed. So far, the image seems ominous.  But between the cherubim, the guardians of God’s holiness, Moses was to construct a mercy seat that was to represent God’s throne.

It would have been easy to assume that God would instruct Moses to construct a judgment seat on top of the ark.  After all, the Law was deposited in the ark and that law would reveal our sinfulness. The cherubim surrounded the throne and they were the guardians of God’s holiness.  And yet, in the midst of that, God’s emphasis was mercy rather than judgment. We discover through those images that the purpose of God constructing the tabernacle was not to sit in judgment on his people but to dispense mercy.  God’s heart for us is always mercy and James, the brother of Jesus, tell us that mercy always triumphs over judgment (See James 2:13).

It’s not that God won’t judge sin or wickedness but it is always his last choice. Even Ezekiel’s vision of impending judgment was to bring a rebellious nation to repentance so that God would not have to judge. Many of us live and view God as if judgment and the rejection that goes with it are always God’s first choice.  The truth is that God is merciful first.  After David’s sin with Bathsheba, he wrote Psalm 51 and began his psalm of repentance by saying, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.” David’s view of God was a God who would forgive even adultery and murder because he was first of all merciful and loving.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat.  They symbolism was that the blood covered the Law that was in the ark so that the cherubim guarding the throne could no longer see the Law. Without the law there is no sin and so because the blood of an innocent covered the law, we could enter into the presence of God. Under the Old Covenant only the high priest who represented the people could enter into God’s presence but at the death of Jesus, the veil that separated God from man was torn in two.  The mercy of God triumphed over judgment and we have been given free access to the Father through Jesus.

Such a God does not take account of every failing and measure his blessings out according to our performance. He gives willingly and freely to all who have been declared innocent of sin by the blood of Christ. He rejoices to give his children gifts and especially spiritual gifts for the work of the kingdom.

We are the ones hung up on ours sins – not God.  We are the ones who fail to ask because we keep declaring our unworthiness – not God. We are the ones who run first to judgment, especially to judge ourselves – not God.  God views us through the filter of grace, mercy, and the cleansing blood of his Son.  He gives blessing and gifts from the place of mercy rather than judgment. When we can finally understand in our hearts who our Father is, then we will rejoice to ask and have faith that we will receive. Then we will expect God to grant us gifts of healing, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, etc. and the church will begin to minister in power. We will expect God to give us those gifts because he rejoices in doing so – even to imperfect people like us.

Remember today that God’s first choice is always mercy.  His last choice is judgment. Expect very good things today from a very good Father and be blessed.