So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12, NASB)
Links Players’ own Tracy Hanson wrote a devotional a few months ago entitled, “Our Connection with Christ.” She talked about her discomfort with the word “identity.” She said that she struggled with identity, especially as a collegiate and professional golfer, because her identity was often tied up with what she had accomplished lately. I think we can all relate to a life that is performance-driven and merit-rewarded.
Tracy said, “Rankin Wilbourne (author of Union with Christ) uses the word union instead of identity to open our understanding of our relationship with Jesus… While identity signifies that we belong to Jesus, union reflects that we are one with Jesus.”
We are inextricably tied together with Jesus. We have the Spirit of God living in us and living for us. We are chosen and dearly loved. We cannot be separated from His love for us: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
I am not just an old golf pro and fellow struggler. I am a child of God, and he loves me very much.That all sounds so good, but the reality is that the world tries to define us in other terms. That opens the door for the devil to use his deception to define our identity and union with Christ. The devil says, “You are a failure. You messed up.” Christ says, “You may have failed, but you are not a failure.” My good friend and Links Players North Texas region director Drew Hamilton tells of a sermon that changed his life in which the pastor remarked, “Failure is an event, not a person, and those who have failed are uniquely qualified to help others.” The devil takes your issues and tries to tell you that is your identity.
So, whom do we listen to? And who are we? Only Jesus gets to tell us who we really are.
Our pastor recently delivered a beautiful sermon in which he told us that he searched the Bible to understand what Jesus says about who we are. The list would be longer that this entire devotional, but I must share just some of the attributes that Jesus has assigned us describing who we are: “Salt of the earth, light of the world, a child of the loving God, you are chosen to bear fruit, a slave of righteousness, a temple and dwelling place of God, a saint, chosen by God, wholly and dearly loved, an enemy of the devil, justified and completely forgiven, you are valuable, you are God’s temple and his Spirit lives in you, you have been crucified with Christ and you no longer live, but Christ lives in you” (Josh Howerton, Lake Pointe Church).
If we really believe this, our lives should reflect this truth and promise. We are children of the King. He has adopted us into his family to live with him forever. This changes everything. I am not just an old golf pro and fellow struggler. I am a child of God, and he loves me very much. And he loves you just the same. Now, let’s live it.
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Randy Wolff
April 2, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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