Read  Colossians 3:1-17

As long as Rachel could remember she wanted to be an attorney.  While it was a little awkward to be the only kid at halloween carrying a briefcase, she stuck to her dreams until she passed the bar exam on the first try. If people thought she was driven during law school they would have been surprised to learn that she actually had another gear in the workplace; no amount of time spent on a project was too much in order to push forward and get noticed in her new firm. 

When Rachel’s roomate and romantic interests suggested that she was pushing herself too hard she dismissed them as undisciplined and uncommitted.  When acquaintances stopped inviting her out after work she barely noticed.  But when her mom called and told her that her best friend from high school was killed in a car accident, Rachel went numb.  Truth be told, that friend was the last deep friendship she had enjoyed, and though she hadn’t called her in years, she still counted her a close friend.  Rachel, in her quest to find fulfillment in her career, had pushed everything and everyone into second place behind what she did.  She allowed her occupation to be her identity.  When reality came crashing in, she was left holding nothing more than a title and an inbox filled with unanswered emails.

Though we might not all face the same temptation in making our occupation our identity, all of us in some way face the temptation to find our identity in something other than being a Christian.  We are not what we do or what role we play in a family or in our position in society, but our true identity stems from the fact that we have been forgiven of our sins and are a child of God. A life of worship flows from who we are in Christ.  Before we are told what to do, God reminds us of who we are.

In Colossians 3, Paul encourages believers with the fact that they have died with Christ, and “your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  Our identity is based on the fact that we have died with Christ and now live with Him.  The commands to put to death what is earthly in you (v.5) and to put on the new self (v.10) can only be done by those who are now “in Christ.”  Even in the middle of the passage when Paul is commanding them to put on the new self he reminds them again of truth about their identity, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…” (v.12). 

Paul concludes this section in verse 17 with the well known verse, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”   God wants us to remember where our true identity is found so that we might be rightly motivated to live lives in praise and obedience to Him in everything we do each day.

Live with a Mission Today:   Think about a few non-Christian friends and the way they attempt to define their identity. What do you possess as a child of God that a non-Christians do not have? In what ways does knowing truth about  your identity in Christ help you to discuss faith with a non-Christian? How can you explain the glories of Christ to a friend in talking about how God has changed your identity?