Chosen

Introduction

Identity: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

Identity is important, it forms our beliefs and helps determine who or what we or a thing is or will become. 

It’s in our identity that we are able to do. Whatever we believe ourselves to be or become determines the outcome.

In this post we will explore:

1. How we see ourselves may determine what we can achieve
2. How identity influences our decisions and lastly
3. Why we need to see ourselves through what God says about us.

The story

Many times we live as though we don’t know who we are or we tend to downplay ourselves.

For instance, it took me a while to be comfortable with myself because of the many labels I feared from people.

I’ve been called and have been assumed to be a lot of things. Although not true, I tried to hide, I created a persona I believed would change how people saw me.

In short, I tried to control how people perceived me. Needless to say that was completely out of my control.

How does identity influence what we may believe?

Firstly, when we live life trying to disprove what others may think about us, we tend not to live at all, we waste so much time living the way we think others approve of. It becomes more about others and less about ourselves let alone God.

In fact, we spend time worrying about how we are seen and forget that God has already defined how He sees us throughout scripture. We will touch on that later in the post.

How we identify ourselves helps us to identify what we can believe about ourselves and others. This may also affect our decision making process. 

In short, If I believe to be an orange tree, I will produce oranges. 

How does identity influence the decisions we make?

If we believe ourselves to be failures, less than, not worthy, unaccomplished, deadbeat or whatever negative perception we may have about ourselves, that is what we may end up becoming, no matter how hard we try to rise above situations and/or decisions. 

What we believe about ourselves bleeds onto our identity and in turn what we think we are capable of or can achieve; for some of us that’s the process that occurs when we make decisions. 

More so, whatever methods we use to process, enhance or change our beliefs forms part of our identity. 

I can write about how positive thinking helps build our beliefs/identity and makes all the difference, however, I would not be writing the whole truth.  

How God thinks of us has a powerful effect on us whether we know of it or not. One of the reasons why, is that He never changes, His view of us remains the same yesterday, today & forever more. He is not a God Who changes His mind, no one and nothing we do influences what and how He thinks of us. His mind is made up about us. (Numbers 23:19)

We may think of ourselves positively, declare and decree all things great about us, however, that may last as long as no doubt enters our minds, no fear rises or no hard times come. We tend to be great until something or someone creates instability.

With Christ, we have Someone to help us, when instability rises up, we rely on the One Who is consistently stable, once we realise that we cannot do it by ourselves we have reached total freedom. 

Tips on how to change and influence our identity

There’s a lot of scripture dedicated to who God says we are, our responsibility is to read, understand and believe how God sees us. 

1. Pick a scripture to say repetitively in your life. It’s great to say it as often as possible until you start believing it.

2. You should replace negative and derogatory thoughts with scriptures about how God sees us, I will reference a few below

Bible verses which speak to who we are:

1. I am chosen – 1 Peter 2:9
2. I am loved – Ephesians 3:18-19
3. I am made in the image of God – Genesis 1:27
4. I am saved – Romans 10:9-10
5. I am taken care of – Matthew 6:25-34
6. I am forgiven – Ephesians 1:7
7. I am the head not the tail – Deuteronomy 28:13 
8. I am an heir – Romans 8:17
9. I am a conqueror – Romans 8:37

Conclusion 

It’s important to understand and know what we believe about ourselves, knowing what we believe helps us to understand what identity we have placed on ourselves. 

Our identity helps with making decisions, if we identify ourselves as children and heirs of God, we will produce what God says we will produce.

If we identify ourselves as pirates, we will produce what pirates believe should be produced.

It’s all in what you believe and identify with.

Has this post been helpful to you? Let us know in the comment section.