One of the most extraordinary things about my life has been knowing who I am in God’s eyes. This truth continues to reveal itself in the most unusually beautiful ways. My mother was elated with the reality of this truth as she began to understand it in her 50’s. Although she had loved the Lord from a young age, she felt that her work for God would make him love her more. Everything in her world had come to a crashing halt when she had an emotional, mental and physical breakdown. When she absorbed the profoundness of her identity in God, she was free of the burden of trying to do things to be more worthy of God’s approval and man’s approval.

The profound understanding of knowing that God loves us completely without any contribution on our part is eternal truth. Nothing, really nothing, can make God love me more or less! It is the simple, yet life-transforming reality of who I am in God’s eyes that immediately equates worth, dignity and immense joy!! Let’s unpack this profound truth.

If you are a Christ-follower, you are a child of God. If you are a parent, you know that you deeply love your child. Your child can do things to please you and make you proud. Your child may embarrass you or hurt you. Your child will always be your child. God loves you and he loves me unconditionally. He is our Father God.

Understanding your identity will profoundly impact your behavior. What you believe to be true about yourself will determine everything about how you see others, how you act and how you make decisions daily. As humans we have a hole in our hearts that can only be filled by a relationship with God our father. So many people claim to believe in God, but they don’t know Him. These people are functional orphans. They may attend church for a variety of reasons. Maybe they attend for the culture. Maybe they attend because of social pressure. Maybe they attend because they have always attended church. A person attending church without the personal relationship with God is missing all the joy and fulfillment realized in understanding their identity in God’s eyes!!

The greatest reality is that you and I have been invited into a relationship with a Father God!! My identity and your identity is verifiably based on what God thinks about you and me. I am unconditionally loved by God. You are unconditionally loved by God!! He tenderly, lovingly offers us a personal relationship with Him. Here is what I know about my identity. This is not my opinion. This is not based on my feelings. This is not based on what others say. The following statements are substantiated by the Bible which is God’s direct word to you and me. These spiritual traits reflect who I am because I have had a spiritual birth. I am God’s child. These things are true of you too if you are God’s child. You can not earn them or buy them anymore than a person born in America can earn or buy the rights and freedoms that he enjoys as an American citizen. His rights are guaranteed to him by the Constitution simply because he was born in the United States. Similarly, these traits are guaranteed to you by the Word of God because you were born into God’s family by faith in Christ.

• I am a child of God. (John 1: 12)
• I am Christ’s friend. (John 15: 15)
• I am chosen of God, holy and dearly beloved. (Col 3: 12, I Thes. 1: 4)
• I am a son of God, God is spiritually my Father. (Rom 8: 14, 15, Gal 3: 26, 4: 6)
• I am a dwelling place of God, His spirit and life dwell in me.
• I am a new creation. (II Cor 5: 17)
• I am a citizen of heaven. (Phil 3: 20, Eph 2: 6)
• I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people that belong to God. (I Pet. 2: 9, 10)
• I am an alien and a stranger in this world in which I temporarily live. (I Pet. 2: 11)
• I am an enemy of the devil. (I Pet 5: 8)
• I am born of God and the evil one, Satan, cannot touch me. (I John 5: 18)
• I am what God says I am. (I Cor. 15: 10)

This last verse was written by Paul who stated, “But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.” If anyone had works to lay on the scale to convince God that he was “good enough” to enter heaven, it was Paul. Yet, he knew his worth was not in what he did or might do in the future, but in God’s special favor on him.

Let’s think again about what is my identity. It is essence of who I am. It is what distinguishes me. In this context, it is a list of characteristics of who I am according to what God says I am in His Word. This is concrete! In addition to knowing what God thinks of me, I aim to pursue knowing God’s character discovered throughout the Bible.

Knowing God’s character will guide me to trust His heart. His heart is for me. His heart is for you!

I am nearly in tears every time I pause to take in how much God loves me. He is also very fond of you. He loves you because he made you. All of the characteristics above are completely true. They cannot become more true by anything you do. However, they can become more meaningful and more productive in your life by choosing to believe what God says about you. One of the greatest ways to help yourself grow into maturity in Christ is by continually remind yourself who you are in Him. Lean into this love! Reject false thinking! Choose joy! Don’t believe that you are worthless, unloved and unlovable. The more you affirm who you are in Christ, the more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will reflect your true identity.

Listen to one of my favorite songs from Casting Crowns.

Some of the lyrics are…

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am,
But because of what You’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who You are.

I am a flower quickly fading:
Here today and gone tomorrow.
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still You hear me when I’m calling.
Lord, You catch me when I’m falling.
And You’ve told me who I am.
I am Yours, I am Yours

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For more conversation on this topic with Tim and I, listen to this Embrace Your Everyday podcast.