Answer
Many of us waste time worrying about what other people think of us. We want to be valued, loved, respected, and admired. But why base our identity and sense of self-worth on the opinions of other flawed beings when God’s view of us is the only one that truly matters? The most important question we can ask concerning our identity is this: Who does God say I am? The Bible contains the only reliable answers about who we are in Christ and what God thinks of us who have been born again.
First and foremost, God says I am His beloved child: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). God is not timid about expressing His boundless love for us; He repeatedly affirms in Scripture that we are born of God, His very own treasured children (John 1:12–13; 2 Corinthians 6:17–18; Galatians 3:26; Romans 8:17; Isaiah 43:1).
God says I am chosen, adopted into His family through Jesus Christ to be His child forever: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son” (Ephesians 1:4–6, NLT; see also 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2:13).
God says I am valuable. He calls me His workmanship: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10, NLT). We are not random lumps of clay. God says we are the result of His artistic skill and craftsmanship. God made us in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26–27; 5:1; 9:6; James 3:9).
God says I am redeemed. So valuable are we to God that He purchased us with the precious blood of His Son, Jesus Christ: “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” (1 Peter 1:18–19, NLT). Through the blood of Jesus Christ we are forgiven and set free from sin: “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins” (Ephesians 1:7, NLT; see also Galatians 5:1; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 John 1:9).
God says I am a new person in Jesus Christ. Through His salvation, we gain an altogether new identity and a whole new life: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT; see also Ephesians 4:24). He says I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), a living temple for His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), and a saint (Ephesians 2:19; Philippians 4:21).
God says I am His friend. Through a relationship with Jesus, God shares His heart with us: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).
God says I am His ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20), His light in the darkness, and His witness to the world (Matthew 5:13–16; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:8). God has entrusted us with the job of making disciples (Matthew 28:19).
God says I am a member of Jesus Christ’s body: “And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6, NLT; see also Ephesians 5:30). Because I belong to Christ—united with Him in His life, death, resurrection, and glorification (John 15:1–10; Romans 6:4-6; Ephesians 2:6)—God says I am an heir to His Kingdom and His glory (Galatians 4:7; Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:17), a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20).
God says I am exceedingly loved: “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8, NLT; see also Romans 8:31–39; John 3:16–17). So great is His love for us that He mercifully gave us life: “God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:4–5, NLT).
The more we study the Word of God, the more we discover who we are in Christ. We are transformed into the person God says we are when we make Jesus Christ the pursuit of our lives: “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT; see also Romans 8:29; 12:2; Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 4:15).
