Identity

Identity has been a huge issue in contemporary culture. Maybe it also was in first century Roman culture:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.  (The apostle Paul as recorded in Ephesians 1)

We know from sociological studies of these times that the first Christians were most often poor, alienated, and powerless. Paul tells them that, the fact is, they are blessed - just as Jesus told the crowds that followed him that they were blessed. Paul clearly says that their blessedness is spiritual. Their spiritual blessing is profoundly real. Their identity is completely different from what they had always believed. These followers of Jesus have been adopted by God because of Jesus the Christ. So now they are holy and blameless. They have redemption and forgiveness. And they can expect more. They have an inheritance - certainly something that they would have never have had from a physical father.

So, this is now my new identity: holy, blameless, redeemed, forgiven, and adopted into God's family. God is my father, a father who loves me completely, and Jesus is my older brother who is responsible for my new identity, my amazing good fortune. Being adopted I have a share in the inheritance. No matter what happens to me or how I am viewed by others or how I even view myself, the truth is I am blessed - blessed beyond all expectations.

Let it sink in.