Our identity is found in Christ alone. ²¹How, He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, ²²who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NKJV).

 

We are God’s children. ¹See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children – think of it – and we really are!  (1 John 3:1 TLB). God chose us - emphasizing that salvation depends totally on God. We are not saved or chosen because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and freely give salvation. We did not influence God’s decision to save us; He did it according to His plan.  Thus, there is no way to take credit for your salvation or to find room for pride.  The ministry of salvation originated in the timeless mind of God long before we existed.  It is hard to understand how God could accept us, but because of Christ we are holy and blameless in His eyes.  ⁴Long ago, even before He made the world, God chose us to be His very own through what Christ would do for us; He decided then to make us holy in His eyes, without a single fault – we who stand before Him covered with His love (Ephesians 1:4 TLB).

 

We are holy and set apart. We are to be like our Heavenly Father – holy in everything we do. Holiness means being totally devoted or dedicated to God, set aside for His special use, and set apart from sin and its influence. We’re not blended in with the crowd, yet we shouldn’t be different just to be different. What make us different are God’s qualities in our lives. ¹⁵But be holy now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be His child.  ¹⁶He Himself has said; you must be holy, for I AM holy (1 Peter 1:15-16 TLB).

 

When our purpose is to give credit to God for His love, power and perfection in all we do, we can serve Him properly. Serving God unifies all believers and enables them to be loving and sensitive to others. None of us can be fully Christ-like by himself or herself – it takes the entire body of Christ to fully express Christ. By actively and intently building up other believers, Christians can be a symphony of service to God.

 

Being reconciled to God means being reconciled to each other. For there is one way to be reconciled to God: Christ reconciles us to God by uniting us to Himself. Jews and Gentiles alike could be guilty of spiritual pride – Jews for thinking their ceremonies elevate them above everyone else, Gentiles for forgetting the hopelessness of their condition apart from Christ.  Spiritual pride blinds us to our own faults and magnifies the faults of others.  Be careful not to become proud of your salvation. Instead, humbly thank God for what He has done and encourage others who might be struggling in their faith. Namibia is one body, Jew and Gentile reconciled through Christ. ¹²Remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁶And in one body to reconcile both them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility (Ephesians 2:12-13 & 16 NIV).

 

¹²Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵Now if the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, I don’t need you! And the head cannot say to the feet, I don’t need you! ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:12-27 NIV).

 

As believers, we should fight against a common enemy, not each other. United in love, we become aware of Christ’s strength. Always remember teamwork, consideration, and unselfishness.  Keep your focus on the model of Jesus Christ.

 

When we were raised with Christ, we became citizens of heaven. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21 NIV).  ¹Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-2 NIV).

 

A new people of God united by Jesus Christ, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God and members of His household.  As a kingdom citizen, you align with God's lordship by aligning your life with what God has said in His word. Whatever your nationality may be, if you are a child of God, you are a citizen of His kingdom.  ¹⁹Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members to God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian. ²⁰What a foundation you stand on now; the apostles and prophets; and the cornerstone of the building is Jesus Christ Himself! ²¹We who believe are carefully joined together with Christ as parts of a beautiful, constantly growing temple for God. ²²And you are also joined with Him and with each other by the Spirit and are part of this dwelling place of God (Ephesians 2:19-22 TLB).  As we spend time living in the kingdom of God, we are meant to be shaped and formed by the life of the Spirit of the Lord in ways that make this an unshakable core identity. Other loyalties and identities may come and go, yet our status as citizens in His kingdom is eternal.

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²He set His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the land (Revelation 10:2 AMP). We live in two kingdoms and have a place in both, yet we must never blend them, and most importantly, we must never forget our faithfulness. And while you are also a citizen of the kingdoms of this world, these dual identities are not meant to carry equal weight! To be a citizen of God’s kingdom doesn’t mean you must live in isolation, hiding from the tribulations and evils of society. Yet it does mean that the kingdoms of this world do not give you ultimate meaning, purpose, or identity.   ¹⁹The world would love you if you belonged to it; but you don’t – for I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you (John 15:19 TLB). Pay your taxes. Vote in elections. Make a living. Seek the good of your city, but do not give the emperor what is meant for God alone.​​​​​