A new ID
Moving to a new town in a new state means getting a new driver’s license. Every ten years, passport holders renew their passport. Beginning studies at a new school comes with getting a new student ID. All three of these coincided for me last month as I moved to Iowa, started seminary, and another ten years of life came and went, meaning all the official picture identification I carry is brand new. My name and birth date are the same as they have always been, but the state, the school, the time in life, and the pictures are all different, reflecting changes of place, time, and vocation.
Looking at these new pieces of identification that replaced the old ones I used to carry, I’m reminded of our identity in Christ. Paul writes that “In Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being.” (1 Corinthians 5:17) In reconciling us with God, Jesus transforms every aspect of our lives. In our baptism, we die and rise again with Christ, dying to our old self and rising again to a new life, transformed by Jesus.
Getting this new identity in Jesus, just like getting a new driver’s license or passport, doesn’t change your name or where you come from. Jesus does not negate your past or undo who you are, what you’ve gone through, or the things that have shaped you. Instead, our new identity in Christ transforms all these things, making them new. Past joys and milestones are reshaped by understanding them as part of God’s plan, shaping you into the person you are today. Past disappointments and mistakes are transformed by God’s redemptive power to heal, learn, and grown. What was once a burden to remember can be shaped into a milestone on the way to becoming who God desires you to be.
Each of us has been created in God’s image and called personally by name. God has been with each of us and chosen each of us since before we could even recognize ourselves in a mirror. As we come to better know
Jesus and ourselves, God leads us toward a joyful self-acceptance, rooted in knowledge that we are loved and cared for.
We are continually changing. The places we have been, the work we have done, the relationships that have meant something to us, these all shape and direct that change, making us into the people we are today. Just as getting a new piece of ID marks changes in place, time, appearance, and life circumstance, reflecting on our identity in Christ marks those significant, life-shaping changes with the stamp of God’s loving direction and transformative care of our lives. In Christ, we remain the person God created us to be. Yet we are also a new creation, shaped by a loving God who walks with us through every change. This new identity frees us to love more freely because we see the author of all creation at work in ourselves and everyone around us.
