“What do you think, Mom?” eight-year-old Isaiah asked as he jumped around the corner in his Peter Pan costume. A second later, 10-year-old Gabriel jumped around the corner, too. His costume was the same but all black. Peter Pan’s shadow.
I was watching my sons last week as they participated in the seasonal shifting of identities, otherwise known as Halloween.
“Awesome,” I said. “Cutest Pan and shadow ever.” I watched as they bolted through the house, porch and into the yard. One boy ran, kicked leaves and climbed the playset. His brother moved behind him. Mimicking. Shadowing. Doing his best to keep up.
But when we attend a couple of parties later, not many of our friends know who the boys are dressed as. “Robin Hood?” they asked. “A ninja?”
The boys weren’t bothered. They had a good time. Their treat bags bulged.
That night, as I hung their costumes in the closet, I thought about identity. My identity in Christ.
The Bible tells us that when we make that soul-saving decision to follow Christ, we’re new creations (2 Corinthians 2:17). Our identity changes. I’m now one whose sins have been forgotten. I’m a bearer of good fruit. I have a spirit of power and love and self-control. I’m a receiver of spiritual blessing. A citizen of heaven. My body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. But when we align with Jesus, we acquire an enemy too. He’s called the deceiver. The father of lies. The accuser.
He’ll whisper lies about our identity.
You’re not really saved. Remember that sin? You’re still the same. There’s nothing different about you.
The thief cannot separate us from God’s love, but I believe that he can steal our freedom if we listen to his dark whispers.
But Jesus came so that we would have life and have it to the fullest.
I believe that part of that fullness, part of the freedom that comes from living fully, is in claiming and defending our identity in Jesus. Claiming our newness. Living fresh, uninhibited, under the goodness and glory of grace. And sometimes this means rejecting lies of the enemy–choosing to recognize and dismiss any thought that sets itself against the truth of who I really am.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)
Jesus’ giving set me free.
My sons had a good time this Halloween. I’m glad. Peter Pan. Robin Hood. No big deal. It was all for fun.
My identity in Christ is a different matter.
In Him, through His Word, I know exactly who I am.
