Our Spiritual Identity

Identity theft is a big problem in our age of credit cards and the Internet. It is not difficult for someone to retrieve our vital information and pose as us. If that were to happen, however, it would not change the essence of who we are. The thief would not steal our true identity — just some superficial information about us.

However, our identity goes much deeper than our ID number. Spiritually speaking, we are who God says we are. Nothing else really matters except whether or not we are identified as a child of God (Romans 8:14-17). That alone will dictate our eternal destiny, and that alone will indicate whether we can live life to the fullest.

In 1 John Chapter 2, there are three identity qualifiers — truths that reveal whether or not we are God's children:

1) We know that we have come to know the Lord if we obey His commands (1 John 2:3).
2) Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6).
3) Anyone who claims to be “in the light” will avoid hatred toward others (1 John 2:9).

The question is, “Who are we?” Do we “know” Jesus? If so, we will obey His commands, walk as He did, and love others. No one can ever steal that mark of identity from us.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets