Day 8 – Identifying with Christ

We often hear stories about people getting a large inheritance or receiving a big bonus at work. These are great, but we’re on the outside looking in – we rarely have connections with those people, so the stories don’t affect us.

In the same way, all this about Jesus’ death and resurrection is great news, but if we don’t see ourselves in the picture, it can’t help us.

The good news is that God has already made a place for you in the picture – you just need to see yourself there. In fact, if you have received His salvation, you’re already there. You are a son or daughter of God Almighty! You have been born again into His family. This is the new birth!

How did this happen – how did you get there? You just needed the right ID – identification. And God has done all the hard work for this. When you chose salvation, you chose to identify with Jesus. Here’s how it works:

Col 1:19-22 NLT

19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions (sin). Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

This includes you! God has included you in His gospel story. If you have intentionally received God’s salvation through Christ, you’re in the picture. This is what makes Christianity personal. We see ourselves individually as part of the salvation story. Jesus didn’t just die for mankind; He died for me!

Here is the way to identify with Jesus: acknowledge that when He died on the cross, I died with Him, and when He rose from the grave, I rose with Him in new life. Yes, it happened 2,000 years ago, but spiritually, I was with Him. The Apostle Paul said that we were united with Him in His death, and we are united with Him in His new life (Rom 6:4-5).

This is where God has always wanted us – united with Him in a living relationship.

Consider:

Do you see yourself truly connected with God?

Do you find it easy it identify with Him?