Finding a 'Christian' Identity

The passage quoted above has often puzzled me. Primarily it is a call to the self-sacrifice intrinsic in being Jesus’ follower, though that is only part of its message. So which part of my personality has to be broken in order for the life of God to flow out to others? Does this mean that the Christian becomes a nonentity, worrying about sin all the time? No way! What has to disintegrate is that element of selfishness which is a legacy of the Fall, to reveal the image of God. Everything which actively opposes the Spirit's transforming activity inside, which screams that we should deliberately disobey God, has to die. The apostle Paul illustrates how the war between good and evil is being fought within us: For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want (Galatians 5:17). God is in the business of breaking down the sick aspects of our characters, building in the fresh and exciting life our souls need.

How is it that God breaks the ‘old nature’? One method is through temptation. God allows us to get into situations where we have to recognise the capacity of our own evil desires to make trouble. What did Satan tempt Jesus with during his forty-day hell-on-earth in the desert? — like here on campus there were infinite opportunities for self-gratification (like eating bread instead of fasting) and self-glorification (‘Go on … jump off the Temple, God will rescue you and everyone will know how incredible you are …’). The way we handle temptation is essential to our survival as Christians, so it is a blessing that Jesus is there to talk to about making the right choices, and forgive us if and when we sin. Peter warns us that we are likely to suffer insults because we follow the Lord (1 Peter 4:4). God can use disappointments in life to persuade us to surrender our highest love to Him, and enjoy His presence more.

God is concerned that we do what is right according to His Word, not because He is a boring fart who wants to spoil our brief pleasures, but because He wants us to form our identity in relation to Him. If we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our mentality, we will get closer to Him. If you or I are far away from our Creator, then who moved? Us or God? Almighty God is unchanging. There is no need to be afraid of the Counsellor's work. He will never erode the essentials of your personality: extroverts remain over the top, (though drinking ten pints of Carling down the Charles would be a definite ‘no no’). Rather Paul assures us that The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children or as the Good News Bible paraphrases it God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits. (Romans 8:16) God is seeking to recreate the unique beauty of personalities centred on Him, with people who can share some hint of Paul's extraordinary claim: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).

This article first appeared in Issue 56 of Christis.
“The Fall” (above) refers to the Scriptural account of the creation, and a Christian belief that following the temptation and sin of Adam and Eve, all creation and humanity is in some way imperfect.

C.S. Lewis persuasively argued: It is only the Christians who have any idea of how human souls can be taken into the life of God and yet remain themselves — in fact, be very much more themselves than they were before … it is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own … Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him and with Him everything else thrown in. (Beyond Personality)

Finding a ‘Christian’ Identity

A search for scriptural answers


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