Identity Crisis

Ephesians1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
Romans 1:1 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God
Phillipians 1:1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus


My oldest son Cal discovered a passion for football as he played in an 80 pound tackle league this year. He naturally adopted Auburn as His favorite team as both Evie and I and for that matter everyone else in His family tree are alumns. In case you don't live in Alabama, the University of Alabama is Auburn's biggest rival and they just won the national championship. That might not mean as much where people have more entertainment verticals but here in Alabama, football is literally a religion (to some). Well, in addition to being an Auburn fan, Cal became a huge Texas fan in the month leading up to the national title game as he knew that was the last team that could derail his foe. An honest liking for Texas, fueled by the ribbing he took from His Alabama friends turned him rather quickly into a pretty obnoxious one I might add. Dad here did not help either by buying him a Longhorns hat and shirt on the way to Honduras a couple of weeks ago. Cal spent much energy and effort at establishing his new identity as a Texas fan which offered hope to the dark prospect of Alabama becoming champions. Despite our counseling and attempts to help him realize it was only a game, Cal was ready to see Texas bring home a win. Cal's only problem was that Texas lost and his new identity as a Texas fan failed him and sent him crying off to bed in disgust at half time.

After thinking it through, I must admit that I have adopted many new identities through out my life and to some extent they have all failed me as well. Why? Everything and everyone in which we are able to identify ourselves with or by is flawed except one thing: Jesus Christ!

Look at Paul's clarity of self definition above. Servant. Apostle.
Look at his purpose: Set apart for the Gospel of Christ
Look at the authority behind his Identity: the will of God

Unlike Cal or myself for that matter, Paul was entirely sold out to having a singular identity as a servant an apostle of Jesus Christ. His mission and purpose were fueled by having this focused identity and his life was powered of course by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the will of God. Big Point: Paul's identity never failed him!

The big question for us is: why do we try all these new identities even though we all know they are temporary? The answer is that until we truly rest in the perfected identity as a follower of Christ our souls will bounce from place to place, and thing to thing, trying to fill up the emptiness that only Jesus can provide!

So lets set our affections on Him and put our hope and identity in Him. Everything else will fail us.