Identity: Seeing Yourself in God's Eyes

CONRAD HILARIO

Copyright © 2023 by Conrad Hilario

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Published by New Paradigm Publishing

Columbus, Ohio

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Cover design: Madison Rhodes

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the NIV® Bible (The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture references marked NLT are from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL, 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NET are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 9798988558651

dedication

To my beautiful wife, Hilary, on our 15th anniversary. I love you more than ever.

I’m so grateful to God for putting you in my life. You are strong in the ways I am weak. Your belief in me has spurred me to serve God with all my heart.

You have filled my life with happiness.

Acknowledgements

To my mentor, Dennis McCallum, who introduced me to my new identity in Christ. Reading your book, Walking in Victory, changed my life. Thank you for your investment over the years. I’m indebted to you.

Special thanks to my friend and editor, John Ross, who left my manuscript looking like a butcher’s apron. Your constructive criticism helped me grow as a writer and helped elevate the content of this book.

Contents

A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem

Seeing Yourself Through God’s Eyes

ONE. Holy + Blameless

TWO. Sealed with the Spirit

THREE. New Creation in Christ

FOUR. Free from the Law

FIVE. No Longer Slaves to Sin

SIX. Forgiven

SEVEN. Adopted Son or Daughter

EIGHT. Child of God: Our Heavenly Father

NINE. Child of God: Becoming Like Little Children

TEN. Child of God: Receiving Loving Discipline

ELEVEN. God’s Friend

TWELVE. God’s Friend: Being a Good Friend

THIRTEEN. Bearer of a New Name

FOURTEEN. Bearer of God’s Family Name

FIFTEEN. One in Christ

SIXTEEN. Body of Christ

SEVENTEEN. Bride of Christ

EIGHTEEN. Temple of God

NINETEEN. Royal Priesthood

TWENTY. Salt + Light

TWENTY-ONE. Citizen of Heaven

TWENTY-TWO. Temporary Resident

TWENTY-THREE. Ambassador

TWENTY-FOUR. Not of This World

TWENTY-FIVE. Servant of Christ

TWENTY-SIX. Combatant: Freedom Fighter

TWENTY-SEVEN. Combatant: The Battle of the Mind

TWENTY-EIGHT. Conformed to the Image of Christ

A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem

You could describe the current state of our culture in two words: identity crisis. Many young people today are creating an identity from social differences. Some look to race or ethnicity. For a growing number, identity is determined by one’s gender or sexual orientation. Others build a sense of self from political or social causes.

More often people build their identity around things like achievement. In the classic movie, Cool Runnings, a Jamaican sprinter named Derice Bannock fails to qualify for the Summer Olympics. Desperate to compete, he forms the first Jamaican bobsled team in history with the help of disgraced American bobsledder Irving Irv Blitzer, played by John Candy. The Winter Olympic Committee stripped Irv of two gold medals for cheating years earlier.

After the Jamaican team qualifies to compete in the 1988 games, Derice asks Irv why he cheated.

It’s quite simple really, Irv answers. I had to win.

He continues, You see, Derice, I’ve made winning my whole life, and when you make winning your whole life, you have to keep winning no matter what.

Derice fires back in confusion, You had two gold medals. You had it all!

Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing, Irv replies as Derice nods with approval. But if you are not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.

Derice asks, Hey, coach, how will I know if I’m enough?

Those who center their identity on success make their whole lives about winning. But it leaves them wondering: How will I know I’m enough?

Comparison fuels our drive for success. We want what others have. We dream of their recognition. We long for their wealth. We aspire to their success because it will add to our cachet. That’s why we often feel dissatisfied with our work. We’re not manufacturing a good or service, we’re manufacturing a sense of self.

Others form their identity around money and possessions. Researchers asked Harvard students to choose between two options: make $90,000 per year while others earn $45,000, or make $180,000 a year while others earn $450,000. The majority chose the first option.¹ That means most people would rather make half as much, just to have more than others.

Why do we compare our material wealth to others? Wealth assigns us a certain status. It places us within a layer of society that defines most aspects of our lives. It allows us to move into specific neighborhoods. It gives us access to certain social circles. It opens more opportunities. All these factors determine our status — and status is another way of measuring ourselves against others.

People find a variety of other ways to define themselves. They establish their worth on romantic love and family, or power and influence. or perceived competence and peer approval, or fitness and physical beauty, or the emotional dependence of others, or even success in Christian ministry.

The trouble with constructing an identity on any of these things is that it can topple at any moment. It’s based on comparisons, or it balances on things that can be taken from you. It was never supposed to be this way.

Human autonomy is the taproot from which all sins originate. The first act of defiance against God was a step toward self-reliance. Humans no longer looked to God for leadership. Instead, humanity chose to carry the crushing load of leading itself.

Casting off God’s leadership means bearing the burden of meeting our own needs. That’s why we feel more relief than elation when we attain long-term goals. That’s why our family and friends never live up to our demands. That’s why worries about our finances drains our energy. We are trying to meet our needs through possessions, people and performance.

Now, these things aren’t inherently bad. As author Timothy Keller explains:

The human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment.²

God solved this complex problem with a simple solution: He’s given us a new identity. The only way to access this is through his son, Jesus. Our disregard for God not only gives us the responsibility of meeting our own needs, it also condemns us. And yet, God’s love for us drove him to sacrifice his one and only son on a cross, so that he could forgive us and offer us a relationship with him. All we need to do is receive Jesus’ death as payment for our sins. The moment we do this, our status changes. Scripture assures us that to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12, NASB).

Who you are determines what you do. Something as simple as knowing that God sees you as his son or daughter will transform your life, and this is just one aspect of who you are in Christ. As you discover your new identity and begin to see yourself through God’s eyes, you will view yourself and reality different.

Seeing Yourself Through God’s Eyes

Have you ever stumbled upon a landmark in your neighborhood that was hiding in plain sight? Twice a week, I drive past an empty building that sits across the street from one of our meeting spaces near The Ohio State University. I’ve passed this building hundreds of times. Last year, I found out it’s on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first junior high school in America. The famous architect who designed Ohio Stadium — home of The Ohio State Buckeyes — drafted the plans for this building. For years, I never knew this building had historical importance. Now, I’m reminded of it every time I drive by.

In Christ is perhaps one of those phrases you see but never notice while reading the Bible. And yet, it’s a major emphasis. When God wants to call attention to something, he repeats it.

The phrase in Christ or in Him appears more than 150 times in the New Testament. However, you almost never hear Christians mention it when talking about spiritual growth.

Most books on spiritual transformation focus on exposing false ideologies, uncovering misplaced affections and confronting warped theology. No doubt, these distortions keep believers enslaved in self-destructive behavior. On the other hand, Scripture tells us that the heart of spiritual growth is embracing who we are in Christ.

I would argue that the lack of spiritual growth in the church today is largely a result of this dim awareness of our new identity. It isn’t enough to tell yourself to stop doing something you know is wrong. It’s essential to see who you are in Jesus.

Put into Christ

God gives us a new identity the instant we place our faith in Jesus. The Apostle Paul assumes all believers should know this. Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Romans 6:3). Now, most associate the word baptize with water baptism. But Paul must have written this with something else in mind. He’s not talking about water baptism. If he was, it would suggest water baptism grants you salvation.

The word baptize contains a wide range of meaning. Ancient authors used the Greek verb to describe immersing or dipping an object.³ The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, used this verb in the context of dyeing. If you put a piece of fabric into a solution, it undergoes a chemical change. Fibers drink up the color and take on the properties of the dye.

That’s what Paul describes here: God put you in Christ and therefore identifies you with him. Just as Jesus lived a life without blemish, God chose us in him to be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4). Just as the Father loves the Son, God shows us the same love because he adopted us as sons and daughters in Christ (Ephesians 1:5). As Christian author Dennis McCallum puts it, What is true of Christ is also true of us who are in Christ.⁴

Scripture uses dozens of metaphors to describe our new identity. It says we are like resident aliens in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11). It calls us ambassadors for Christ in the world (2 Corinthians 5:20). It compares us to living stones God uses to build his holy temple (1 Peter 2:5).

Have you ever heard of a View-Master? It was a cherry red, plastic toy that looked like binoculars and came with cardboard photo reels. Each reel had a collection of pictures with a theme, like outer space or marine life. You would load a reel and look through the lenses. As light entered the viewer, it transformed each picture into a 3-D image. Pressing the lever advanced the reel to the next image. Similarly, as you advance through the pages of Scripture, each metaphor describing your new identity helps you to see how God views you in Christ.

The first major step you can take toward spiritual growth is to discover who you are in Christ. This book is devoted to helping you with this. Each chapter gives a short reflection about one aspect of your new identity. Why not devote the rest of this month to learning about who you are in Christ?

What is our part?

Seeing these metaphors is not enough. We know lots of things, but they don’t always change our lives. Our job is belief. Not just belief of any kind. Belief that draws confidence from what God says and puts it into action.

After we put the time into learning about our new identity, God calls on us to trust what he says about us in Christ. We need to see ourselves as God sees us. That’s why Scripture urges us to consider ourselves dead to sin — our old way of life — and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). The ancient Greek word for consider or reckon was an accounting term.

Not long ago, middle schools required students to take a life skills class. To pass, you had to reconcile a checkbook. Before online banking, you had to hand calculate your balance because you couldn’t look it up in real time. This exercise helped track spending and avoid overdrafts. Teachers would give students a sheet with several columns. One listed your deposits, withdrawals and issued checks. Another allowed you to add or subtract each from your starting amount. If you did everything right, the final balance on your sheet matched the balance on your bank statement. This helped you reckon how much money you thought you had with how much was really in the bank. It brought beliefs and reality into agreement.

Likewise, God wants us to reconcile what we think is true about ourselves and what he says is true of us. He wants to bring these into alignment. The more we see ourselves as God sees us, the more we become like Christ.

God also wants us to present ourselves to him in our new identity (Romans 6:13). It’s not enough to see ourselves through God’s eyes; we also must approach him as we are in Christ. This may seem simple, but it’s not always easy.

Your identity in Christ is as fixed as the orbits of planets. How you feel about yourself does not change how God feels about you. Yet sometimes it’s a struggle to draw near to him. We enter his presence with our eyes downcast during times of moral failure, even though God tells us that we are holy and blameless in his sight. It takes a certain amount of faith to come to him in our new identity.

How does a change of identity change us?

All our deepest needs fall into two categories: the need for significance and the security of being loved. Without these we will shrivel. That’s why we find ourselves grasping for something or someone to anchor our sense of identity.

The Security of Being Loved

Scripture tells us that God created us as dependent beings. He designed us to rely on him to meet all our needs. He also made us to be in a relationship with other people (Genesis 2:18). In other words, we need a relationship with God and human interaction to function the way he intended.

The Fall disrupted this delicate balance. Our sin disconnected us from God. This rupture caused us to place the full weight of our deepest needs onto the people around us. No wonder those around us feel crushed by our expectations. No wonder we feel crumpled by rejection. We are seeking to be filled by people in a way that only God can fill us.

Years ago, a young man in my small group was experiencing the short-term hysteria associated with being in love. He was dating a young woman who attended our group. His infatuation would take him to the heights of euphoria one moment, and cast him into the depths of despair the next. Panic would grip him if she didn’t talk to him every day. Only a text message or a call would give him relief from the anxiety he felt. As in all great love stories, she dumped him.

He was crushed. For days, he would break down crying. A week later,