Year 6, Day 328: 2 Chronicles 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Yesterday we saw Hezekiah rise up and embrace his spiritual father in a spiritual calling.  That truly brought about a spiritual identity.  In today’s chapter, we see that identity continue.  Hezekiah calls for the celebration of the Passover.

However, let’s look at his identity very closely.  Do you hear what the Bible stresses again and again?  There is a humbleness about Hezekiah that is truly respectable.

First of all, look at when they hold the Passover.  The hold it in the second month, not the first month.  They do this because they are humbling themselves to the Law of the Lord.  The Law said that a person who was not ritually impure in the first month could celebrate the Passover in the second month.  Hezekiah knows the status of the land when he takes over as king.  It needed to be purified.  Rather than force the Passover when he could have done it to maintain appearances, Hezekiah humbles himself and the nation and does it right.  He allows the purification to happen so that the Passover would be done right.

Second, do you see whom Hezekiah invites?  He invites all the Hebrew people.  He doesn’t just invite the people of Judah.  He invites the people of Israel and Judah.  It takes humbleness to invite a nation that broke away from you and turned away from the Lord.  It takes a leader who is more focused on the spiritual reality than they are focused on a worldly reality.

This gives us a great glimpse into the spiritual identity of Hezekiah.  Not only is he willing to break tradition from his earthly father’s example, but he is willing to do it right.  He does it in humbleness.  He does it in a way that God’s character is seen and the spotlight shines upon God instead of him.

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Year 6, Day 313: 2 Chronicles 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

On the surface of this passage, Abijah comes off as a really spiritual leader.  He goes out to battle and reminds Jeroboam’s army that God is on their side.  He reminds them that they have the Levitical priests.  He reminds them that he is the leader in the line of David.  He reminds the people that they are the ones who rebelled against Rehoboam.  When you look at this, it’s easy to see Abijah in the right.

So, then, why does the account in 1 Kings 15 tell us that he was evil and walked evilly in the ways of his father Rehoboam?

When we look more deeply, we can get a glimpse of Abijah’s identity.  He seems like he gets the stories right, but he tells the story in a way that doesn’t tell the whole story.  Yes, the kingdom of Judah has the Levites.  But remember that the Chronicler told us a few chapters back that the Levites only remained faithful for about 3 years.  When it comes to the rebellion of Jeroboam, what Abijah fails to say is that the people came to serve Rehoboam and it was Rehoboam’s arrogant ambition that drove the people away into rebellion.  Don’t forget that Abijah is said to have a number of wives as his fathers did who came before him.

What we see in Abijah is an identity that is self-serving.  Abijah tells parts of the truth, but he creatively tells the truth to paint an image that serves him in its lack of honesty.  He uses God when the idea of God serves him and his agenda, but he doesn’t truly live up to God’s ways.  This identity is really what leads us to understand that Abijah is an evil king who walks in the evil ways of his father.

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Year 6, Day 276: 1 Chronicles 1-2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

As I mention in my commentary from 3 years prior, we don’t know who the Chronicler is and we don’t really know when the book was written.  Many people suspect that the book was written by Ezra the priest as people are returning from exile.  If that is true than these chapters are truly about putting the identity of the Hebrew people right.  Even if the book wasn’t written by Ezra, the book is still generically about making sure that the identity of the Hebrew people is rooted in God, who brought these people out from Adam, then Abraham, and then David.

I find it utterly amazing that Ezra is able to trace lineage from Adam to his present day.  This is a span of no less than 1,500 years (to use a very conservative dating technique) or as much as 5,500 years (to use a more literal dating technique according to the Bible’s own witness).  Regardless of which is correct, this is an amazing feat.  That is roughly akin to us in the modern day being able to trace our lineage back to the near the time of Christ.  In truth, many of us cannot trace our lineage back more than two or three generations, much less several thousand years!

That is why it is so easy to see that these opening chapters are about identity.  The Chronicler wants the people to know where they came from.  He wants them to know where they are rooted.

However, what I especially love about the Chronicler’s words here is that they are focused on more than the Hebrew people.  The Chronicler hasn’t forgotten about the nations around the Hebrew people.  He chronicles their history as well.  He is concerned about their identity.  In this, I find a great multi-cultural trait.  I find in the Chronicler’s opening chapters a predecessor to the same kind of spirit that sends Paul into the world of the Gentiles to proclaim the grace of God.

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Year 6, Day 266: Zechariah 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Zechariah 7 opens up a discussion that is always profound in any time period of human history.  People come to Zechariah and ask God how much longer they need to fast.  Be clear on this question, though.  This isn’t the people asking to stop obeying the Lord.  This question is regarding a fast that was instituted by humans at the beginning of the exile when Gedaliah was killed in an act of treason.  The people are coming to ask Zechariah how much longer they need to follow the human fast.

This is a very legitimate question that should be asked.  The people are to be commended for asking this question.  We should always ask whether or not we should be following human directives.  This truly goes back to our identity.  Whose people are we?

In fact, God supports this line of thinking.  Do you hear what God says in reply?  “Was it for me that you fasted?”  God wants the people to hear and know that they are violating their relationship with Him if they stop following directives that were not instituted by Him.

This truly is a fundamental perspective with respect to identity.  Who are we following?  Are we following others?  Are we trying to be like other human beings?  Or are we trying to be like God and living in obedience to Him?

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Year 6, Day 255: Zephaniah 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Zephaniah is a book that starts in a very foreboding manner.  Almost the entire first chapter is a warning of judgment.  The judgment that is predicted is incredibly harsh.  When you read through these words, there is little reason to hope and even less avenue to look for a way to escape.

The identity of God is righteousness.  The identity of His people is not rooted in righteousness.  This is why judgment is coming.  God’s own people have an identity that is not only not coming from God, it is utterly incongruous with God.  Because of this, great judgment will come upon the people.

How do we know that it truly is their identity that has God upset with them?  We know that they have sinned against the Lord.  Zephaniah 1:17 tells us as much.  But look at the specifics that Zephaniah 1:18 gives to us.  Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them.  The fire that comes from the Lord is a fire of jealousy.  The Lord is a jealous God.  When our identity comes from things other than Him, we invoke His wrath.

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Year 6, Day 253: Habakkuk 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition, Identity

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Habakkuk 2 is often summarized by a single quote.  “The righteous will live by faith.”  This is a huge hint towards our identity.  If we are in God, we will live in faith.  If we are in God, we will be obedient to His teaching.  If we are in God, we will desire to be righteous.  We will live by faith.

On the other hand, Habakkuk spends a great deal of time talking about the Chaldeans in this chapter.  The list of grievances is long.  They are willing to deal evilly with the people around them in order to prosper themselves.  They are willing to spill blood just for the sake of building their own towns, cities, and other things of importance.  They are willing to get their neighbors drunk in order to take advantage of them.  They deceive themselves by making idols out of their own creations.

In contrast to the identity of righteousness we have the self-centered ambition of the Chaldeans.  I am convinced that Habakkuk has put these in obvious juxtaposition.  We are to notice that the Chaldeans are going to come under judgment because they choose to pursue their own ambition. 

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Year 6, Day 228: Amos 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

What a humbling chapter!  Look at the things that Amos decries in this passage.  Amos decries the people who live in lavish luxury.  He raises a cry against those who do not see an issue with the downfall of the Hebrew people.  He cautions those who spend their time doing idle and unimportant things.

Why is this chapter humbling?  When Amos looks around at his own people, he sees a people who are falling into disrepair and who don’t really seem to care about it.  He sees a people who are falling away from God and who are too interested in the things of their own life to care.  He sees a nation that no longer cares about justice and righteousness and instead cares about their own luxuries.  Nations in positions like these are not going to earn the favor of the Lord.  People who are following these rhythms in life are not going to have the favor of the Lord.

What does Amos say that God abhors in verse 8?  He abhors their pride.  He hates their strongholds because it allows them to rely on their own failing power rather than His infinite power.  God knows what happens when our priorities shift.  We become proud.  We become focus on our own pleasure rather than our fellow man and our community around us.  He knows that as we focus on ourselves, we are less able to be His representatives to the world around us.

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Year 6, Day 218: 1 Peter 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

I have to confess that I really wanted to write on obedience again today.  Peter really hits the same note that he has hit all along in his writing within this chapter.  However, I wanted to force myself to come at it from a slightly different perspective.  Therefore, much of what I have to say today is really rooted in the concept of obedience.  But I want it to be heard through the lens of identity.

In many ways, though, this goes back to what I said yesterday.  When Peter talks about obedience, he isn’t doing it from the perspective of lesser beings commanded by someone greater, more intelligent, or more powerful.  When Peter talks about obedience, he isn’t talking about a resigned subservient behavior.  Peter talks about obedience that looks ahead towards the rest of the people with whom they will come into contact.  That’s why I want to focus on obedience through the lens of identity.  In order to get obedience right, we need to get identity right as well.

When we read Peter, as with all of the rest of the Biblical authors, we read the words of a person who is trying to see through the eyes of God.  As Peter looks through the eyes of God, he doesn’t focus on the here and now.  Rather, Peter focuses on the future to which we are always being pulled, always being called.  It is that future, and most importantly the people who are within that future, that has the focus of God and thus the focus of Peter.  That’s the identity that Peter is getting from God.  Because Peter is looking ahead, he can focus so well on identity and preparing himself to live out in community the very witness that God has placed within him.

This is why Peter can tell wives to submit to their husbands.  When they submit, they are more likely to be able to show God’s love to them if they do not already know God.  This is why Peter can talk about doing good in the midst of being mistreated and misaligned.  When we do good, people will see us for who we are and they will see the love of God shining through, especially against the darker context of being mistreated and maligned.  As I said yesterday, for Peter, obedience is really the groundwork for witness.  He can see it this way because his identity is in the Lord.  When he looks at the world through the eyes of God and not through his own eyes, he can see the opportunity for ministry all around.  His identity from God allows him to deeply understand why obedience is so important for being able to witness about the grace, love, and mercy of God.

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Year 6, Day 213: Joel 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Joel 1 casts us into a highly symbolic and allegorical world.  That isn’t to say that Joel isn’t writing about very real and historical events.  However, those events cast he shadows of symbolism into our life.

Joel talks about the case of the people.  Hordes of locusts have come among the land.  They’ve stripped the land bare.  When farmers dig into the earth, they find that they are discovering that the seeds that they planted haven’t germinated and instead it has shriveled.  Because of the lack of seed production and the incoming locust plague, there is no harvest.  Since there is no harvest, the storehouses and granaries are empty.  There is no hope.  All is lost.  The people are with harvest: food and wine alike.

That’s the very real circumstance in which Joel finds his people.  However, there is an incredible spiritual analogy.  Let’s trace this backwards.  There is no harvest because the seeds don’t germinate.  In other words, when the seed – that is, faith – does not germinate it cannot produce a harvest.  When the faith that God plants within us is not allowed to germinate, it does not grow and produce any sort of harvest whatsoever!  God can plant faith into each of us, and He does!  But if we give that seed of faith no room to grow and change who we are, we should not expect a harvest within or without!

We can do this same line of thinking with the locust plague.  Why did the locusts come?  The people were faithless.  The people had turned against God, so god removed His hand of protection against them.  Without God’s hand to protect them, the land was free for the taking by the locusts.

In the end, the problem for Joel really does come down to the issue of faithlessness.  For me, this is an issue of identity.  When we are faithless, it is because our identity is rooted in ourselves and our own desires.  When we turn away from God and get our identity from ourselves, we can expect problems internal to ourselves (the seed won’t germinate to make a harvest) as well as external (the locusts come and devour what good was there).

However, when our identity is rooted in God and His will for our life, we can be faithful.  When we are faithful, we will live under His protection and provision.  When we are faithful we can expect a harvest within and outside of ourselves.

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Year 6, Day 210: Hosea 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

“Israel is a luxurious vine that yields its fruit.”  Yet, the more fruit it yielded the more alters they built.  Israel is showing its identity.  The Lord allowed them to be successful and prosper.  However, as they became more successful they also grew a taste for success.  They fell into superstition and false beliefs about why they were successful.  They stopped remembering that it was God that made them successful and latched onto other things.  From God’s perspective, the chief offense of those other things is other gods.  They built alters to other gods to continue to try and increase their success.

However, as they grow in power and wealth and overall success, they lose sight of any leadership, not just God.  They also claim to not have a king because they have no fear of the Lord.  They aren’t really being led by their leaders.  They are led by their identity: the pursuit of their success and overall wealth and status.  As prosperity increases, not only does the need for humbling oneself before God decrease, so does the desire to humble oneself before the appointed leadership.  As we become more successful and more prosperous, our identity is wrapped up in getting what we want and no longer looks to what is truly good for the community around us.  When our identity is off, we lose spiritual and communal perspective.

Hosea gives us some specific characteristics that we can see as Israel loses spiritual perspective.  Israel plowed iniquity and reaped injustice.  Israel trusted in its own strength, rather than honestly humbling themselves and knowing God’s strength in comparison to their own weaknesses.  When we lose our identity from God, we become focused on ourselves.  Our methods become unscrupulous.  We no longer care about things like justice and right.  Life becomes about me.  That’s what life looks like when we forget our identity in the Lord.

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Year 6, Day 186: Matthew 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

What is Jesus’ identity?  Of course, those who are familiar with Jesus should know the answer.  He is the Son of God.  He is the sacrifice God sent to allow us to know His redemption.  He is the one who came to invite us back into genuine relationship with the Father.

That really is the question of this chapter.  The religious leaders question His identity.  They accuse him of casting out demons with Satan’s power.  Naturally, of course, they do this because they are opposed to Jesus.  This gives us a very important lesson to learn.  When we are looking at identity of someone else, so we take into account whether we like them or not?  After all, if I allow my personal human emotions to influence where I think their identity is rooted, I’m likely to get the whole decision wrong.  As Jesus teaches here in this passage, we will get a better clue about a person’s identity when I look at fruit, not my personal opinion about them.

We also get a sense of identity in the people who come and ask Jesus for a sign.  I can understand this moment.  More than once I have asked God to prove His existence.  I’ve hinted with Him that if He was going to pick a moment to demonstrate His power that now would be a good time.  But those moments say more about me and my identity than they say about Him and His identity.  God isn’t great because He does what we want.  God is great, period.  We believe in Him because He is great, not because He does incredible things.  When we ask God to prove His power, it shows that we are not truly getting our identity from Him as we should.

Finally, we get a very interesting story about His family.  They come to see Him.  But Jesus turns to the crowd around Him and tells them that His family are the people around Him.  I think this is one of my favorite identity stories.  Jesus doesn’t define family according to biology.  Jesus defines family according to spirituality.  His identity doesn’t come from His mom and dad and their character.  His identity comes from the Father and those around Him whose identity also comes from the Father.

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Year 6, Day 179: Matthew 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a chapter that is absolutely packed full of identity.  Poor in Spirit.  Willing to mourn.  Submitted.  Thirsting for Righteousness.  Merciful.  Pure. Peacemaking.  Persecuted.  Reviled.

Wait a minute.  Do those last two sound right to you?  Of course not.  It’s not what our human ears want to hear.  But it is what Jesus says.  What is our identity?  Persecuted.  Reviled.  Why?  Because of the other things on the list.

But we’re not done yet.  Salt.  Light.  We bring flavor to the world.  We allow people to step out of the darkness of a sinful and self-centered life.

Still not done.  Ones who resist anger and confess it’s wrong.  Feeling the challenge, yet?  Ones who resist lust and confess it’s wrong.  Yeah, that one usually hits home a good bit, too.  Ones who resist divorce and work towards reconciliation.  Ones who are willing to put aside the desire for retaliation.  Ones who embrace the need to love our enemies.

Yeah.  That’s our identity.  When Christ calls us, he calls us to take up our cross.  It’s difficult to set aside our human identity.  However, the identity that He offers us is an easy one to embrace.  Once we let go of our selfish nature bent on focusing ourselves and instead embrace Jesus’ culture of love and focusing on God’s ways, it really is an easy identity to embrace.

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Year 6, Day 175: Matthew 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Matthew 1 always gets a bad rap.  It is largely the genealogy of Jesus.  So-and-so begat another so-and-so.  But there is something extremely significant in this chapter.  Identity.

All of the people in this list belong to the lineage of David.  That makes them all have some kind of legitimate claim to David’s throne.  Furthermore, all of these people – and for the record, all Jews – belong to the lineage of Abraham.  That makes them all have a legitimate claim to faith.  This chapter is full of identity.  When Jesus comes on the scene, He has a right to both the throne and faith.

This sense of identity is highly organized.  14 generations.  From Abraham to David was 14 generations.  From David to exile was 14 generations.  From the exile to Jesus was 14 generations.  God is a God of order.  He brings order to the chaos.  This is also a part of all of our identity in God.

That beings said, there is a contrasting identity here in this passage as well.  God calls Joseph to care for a woman who will give birth to a child that isn’t his.  God is doing something new in Jesus, as Joseph is called to protect that.  Yes, God is a God of order.  But God is also the God of new things, too.  God doesn’t call us to be the same in every context and every time.  God calls us to His plan, which is fluid.  It is consistent – God’s ideals, premises, and commandments do not change.  However, the means and methods that cultures and peoples are reached for those ideals are quite fluid.  God is the God of new things.  Joseph is being called into that as a part of His identity when God asks Him to defend this young virgin who will give birth to His Son.

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Year 6, Day 145: Ezekiel 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Ezekiel 19 s a great lens through which we can see identity.  We talk about a proud lioness who gives birth to some potentially great lions.  The lioness is the Hebrew people.  We know that King David and the house of Judah is called the lion of Judah.  It makes sense to see these lions as the last few kings of Judah.

What happens to these lions?  Even though they come from good stock, they are dragged into captivity.  Egypt takes one.  Babylon takes a second.  They have such potential, but they don’t live up to it.  Instead, they flaunt themselves and find themselves captured.  They don’t get an opportunity to live out their God-given identity.

Isn’t this also true about each of us as human beings?  We are made in God’s image.  He formed us.  He breathed our spirit within us.  But do we not often chase after our own dreams?  Do we not often flaunt ourselves rather than get our identity from the Lord?  We can easily find ourselves in bondage to our sinfulness when God has offered us an identity that is far superior.

As Ezekiel says at the end of the chapter he wrote, this is a reason to lament.

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Year 6, Day 141: Ezekiel 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a very short and sweet chapter.  God compares the Hebrew people at the time of the exile to a vine.  What good is it, except to be burned?  It isn’t straight, so you can’t make a board.  It doesn’t bear weight well, so you can’t use it for furniture or for building.  What use is there for it except for burning?

This really is an issue of identity.  The identity of the Hebrew people during the exile is a useless one.  They don’t worship God.  They aren’t willing to submit.  They aren’t humble.  They won’t even consider that they might be wrong!  They identity is in themselves and their own selfish pursuits.  In that, they find judgment.

We should learn from this chapter.  Our identity needs to be in the Father.  We need to be open to Him, pursuing His will.  When our identity is in Him, we will find satisfaction in His purposes and joy in His work.  We will find an escape from judgment because when our identity is in Him He can become our salvation.

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Year 6, Day 115: Hebrews 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

It’s rather easy to hear that faith is the central concept of this chapter.  All of the people mentioned in this chapter lived by faith.  They lived knowing the promise of a future.  They lived as sojourners looking for a new home.  The lived by faith.

But today I am really struck by the verse that poignantly reminds us that they also died by faith.  Did Abraham see the generations that would number like the stars in the sky?  Did Joseph die knowing his return to the Promised Land?  Did Moses die seeing the people in power in the Promised Land?  Did David die seeing his descendant on the throne eternally?  Of course not.  All of those people died knowing that God would fulfill the promise – even if He didn’t fulfill it while they were alive.  Now that’s faith!

I also think there is a great place for identity.  Do we worship God for what He will do for us now?  How many times to we try and bargain with God, promising present faithfulness for immediate gain?  Yet these people of faith lived a life of present faithfulness in exchange for future gain.  Of course we know that is the higher choice; but it is often the harder choice.  Our identity should be a people who are content to live in faith now in exchange for a future revelation of God’s eternal promise.

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Year 6, Day 105: Hebrews 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity, Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.
• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

As we are called to imitate Christ, we should take a good long look at this chapter.  Yes, this chapter is all about the supremacy of Christ.  But this chapter is also a great example in how identity can translate into calling.  If we are doing it right, our calling should naturally come out of our identity in God.  Let’s look at Christ and see how this works:

• Jesus Christ is the last and final voice of God.  God spoke creation into existence at the beginning of the world.  Now God has sent the last, final, and ultimate voice into the world.  He sent Jesus to be the true unveiling of God.  That is His identity.  How does this translate into calling?  Jesus’ identity as the last and greatest voice of God allows Him to speak final words of repentance, justice, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
• Jesus Christ is also the Heir.  How does this translate to calling?  If Jesus Christ is the heir, then everything of the Father will be the Son’s.  Everything will be under the dominion of Christ.  Jesus lived His life as though everything was under His dominion.
• The glory of God radiates from Him.  To radiate means that something comes from within.  To radiate can also mean to reflect something external.  How does Christ’s calling reflect this identity?  He certainly reflected God’s glory to the world.  He also had God’s glory within Him as it shone out of Him.
• Jesus is the one who sustains creation.  The only reason creation continues and doesn’t literally tear itself apart is because Christ has become a part of it.  How does this identity translate into calling?  Christ literally sustains us.  He is the only reason that we can continue to exist as we are.  We can be in relationship with each other because Christ came as was in relationship with us.
• Christ is the Redeemer.  He is the one who purifies creation from its sinful nature. I think it is pretty easy how Jesus put this identity into calling.  He is the one who laid down His life so that others might live.
• Finally, we see that Christ is king.  How does this identity translate into calling?  Jesus taught with the authority of a king.  People were amazed at His authority.  Furthermore, Christ has sat down at the right hand of God.  Christ has ascended to be with the Father to the place that was prepared for Him.  He has proven His superiority – superiority over death and even the angels!  There is none like Him!

We can learn much from Christ.  All that He did came out of His identity in the Father.  We should strive to have the same said about us.

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Year 6, Day 75: Jeremiah 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This chapter of Jeremiah has much to say about leadership.  Specifically, this chapter has to do with the king of Judah.  This chapter talks about the identity of leadership.

What is it that Jeremiah focuses upon?  Leaders are called upon to make sure that the oppressed find justice.  Leaders are called upon to make sure that those who don’t have a voice are heard.  Leaders are called upon to make sure that the right thing happens regardless of social pressure.  That’s what the identity of good leadership looks like.

But is that what we often see?  Occasionally we do see it.  But in truth we see far more leaders using their power and influence to make life better for themselves.  We see many leaders looking to use their leadership to increase their own influence, luxurious living, and power.

That’s God’s biggest issue with the leadership of Judah.  The leaders aren’t interested in the widows and orphans.  They aren’t interested in justice and righteousness.  They aren’t interested in doing the right thing with the power that God has entrusted to them.  Their identity is found in themselves, not within God.

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Year 6, Day 66: Jeremiah 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

God asks Jeremiah to go and find a linen belt.  Some translations call this a loincloth.  The main point of this garment is that it is a belt that went around the waist and held a person’s undergarments to their body.  Being close to the body, you would want it to be clean and smooth so that it wouldn’t chafe.

Then Jeremiah is told to go and bury the loincloth.  Like all things organic, the water in the soil and the soil itself works on the linen and destroys it.  The linen is no longer clean. It is no longer smooth.  If worn, the linen belt will chafe the body uncomfortably.  In other words, the linen belt has lost its ability to be useful.  It has lost its identity.

God reminds us that this linen garment is an analogy for His people.  They have allowed themselves to be corrupted in the world.  They lust after things that are not of God.  Their heart desires that for which God has not made them.  In their passion, they become soiled.  They become something that chafes when used.  God’s people have lost their identity.

Why does this happen?  God tells us why as we close out this chapter.  The people are proud.  They are self-centered.  They care only about themselves.  We only care about the crown of greatness that we can make for ourselves that we don’t even realize when that crown of earthly greatness becomes our very bondage.  We lose our identity and find ourselves soiled for the purposes of God.

Thankfully, we can know forgiveness.  We can try again.  We can be made clean again.  We may lose our identity, but God enables it to not be lost forever.  Our identity can always be restored through God.

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Year 6, Day 8: Isaiah 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a bit of a difficult chapter to read while focusing on discipleship.  After all, this chapter is the beginning of Isaiah’s apocalypse.  This chapter is about judgment and wrath.  This chapter is largely about how humanity has brought judgment upon all of creation.  The whole of creation mourns because we as human beings were sinful.

Given all of that, I think this is a good chapter to turn and look at the topic of identity.  Yes, we are God’s people.  Yes, God has paved the way of salvation.  Ultimately, our identity is in Him.

But what about our nature?  It is important once and a while to remember that our nature is corrupt.  The sinfulness of our flesh is contagious.  We impact all that we touch, and often not in a positive way.  We are inherently self-centered unless we work hard to be different.  We are deserving of judgment.  Our identity may be that we are saved by the hand of God, but our identity truly is a corrupt being that is saved by only by His grace.

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