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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