“Your identity is in Christ alone.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 17, 2022
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27
I’m about to get vulnerable with you . . .
There are times I have felt that I don’t fit in my family. I felt it again this week when a fresh wave of grief brought on by family conflict hurt my feelings.
I knew I needed a change in perspective, and I needed God to heal my emotions through a healthy infusion of His truth. So I went for a walk along a nearby river to talk with the Lord about my insecurities that were starting to feel like an emotional tidal wave.
Faithful as always, He reminded me of truths He had revealed to me years ago but that I had forgotten. And in my forgetting, I became ensnared in ungodly feelings: feeling that I don’t matter, feeling as if no one in my family would care if I wasn’t around, feeling unloved. It was just a big, ungodly pity party. During our walk together, He set me free with His truth.
If you have ever felt like you don’t fit with your family—or with anyone else for that matter—I hope you are encouraged by what the Lord revealed to me.
He showed me that no one—including myself—gets to decide if I fit in my family. Only Jesus gets to define where I belong because He created me. It’s a lie that I don’t fit. I always fit because God has placed me in my family. My existence is not random; my place with my loved ones is not a mistake. The family I belong to is not an accident. I fit even when I feel as if I don’t.
He also reminded me that it’s not my place to decide or determine how I will affect those in my family or the role I will play in their lives. It’s not my job to determine who I will be close to—or not—in my family. That’s God’s job. My job is to be obedient to His leading and to be myself. If I do not act authentically, if I’m not being myself out of fear, I cannot fill the role He has created for me in my family.
Also, when I get my eyes off Him and look to others for validation and proof of my worth, when I feel that a certain response from others will mean that I am lovable, then I lose my peace and joy, and it gives the Adversary an open invitation to accuse, belittle, and shame me which only leads to insecurity. God wants me to walk in confidence. My identity is in Christ alone. He loves me. I am His beloved daughter.
Jesus knows what it’s like for His own to reject him and He was perfect, but because His identity was in his Father’s love, and knew who He was, He did not feel condemned because others did not approve of Him—and He certainly wasn’t seeking validation or attempting to get His sense of worth from man.
After the Lord reminded me of these truths, a fresh peace swept over me. I recognized that out of the overflow of knowing I am loved fully by Jesus, I can give to my family members without being paralyzed by people pleasing and the fear of man. I can give from a place of confidence rather than fear.
If you can relate to anything I’ve shared, remember that you belong because He has created you and because He has placed you where you are on purpose for a purpose. Your identity is in Him.
“. . .he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. . .” (Ephesians 1:5).
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you have created me on purpose for a purpose and you have placed me where I belong. No one gets to decide if I fit. I fit because you have assigned me a place in this world with the people in my family. Amen.
Application
Read this devotional again in first person as if you are saying the words to yourself.
Related Reading
Genesis 1:27; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 3:1-2
Worship Resource
Keith & Kristyn Getty feat. Alison Krauss: In Christ Alone
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