Embracing Your Identity in Christ:
Renouncing Lies and Foolish Strategies
by
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Our identity, besides being one of the most precious things to prevent from theft, crisis, or loss, is extremely important to God. The Father has given each of His children a personal identity in Christ that will shape them on their journey to heaven. If in the process of identity formation we ignore what God says concerning our identity, then we may expect confusion in the other three seasons of spiritual formation.
Just after birth or adoption, a child is given her first sense of identity from her parent(s). Identity formation, however, is a much longer process. When Jesus Christ was approximately thirty years of age the Father spoke of His identity at His baptism just before entering fully into His primary calling. In the same way, a clear sense of our identity in Christ ought to precede our calling formation to Christ. It is during this foundational season of identity formation that Satan challenges each of us, as he did our Lord. The devil's first attacks were aimed at Jesus' identity when two times he cast doubt about who Jesus was: "If you are the Son of God . . ."
The evil trinity--the world, the flesh, and the devil--is seeking to kill and destroy us during each of the four seasons of spiritual formation. In the spring Evil confuses our identity, in the summer our calling, in the autumn our intentionality, and in the winter our legacy. The world escorts us to the pit; the flesh entices us to fall in; and the devil pushes us over the edge. "The pit," as it were, represents a dark and slimy collection of lies, condemning thoughts, and foolish strategies designed to confuse, distort, and manage our identity formation to no avail.
This first season of spiritual formation for the Christian, Identity in Christ, is the first of four seasons of Gospel transformation designed to shape us into the glorious likeness of Jesus Christ. The Bible favors beginning here before asking the next three major questions of the Christian life: Where's my place (calling)? How do I steward all my gifts, resources, and efforts well in the light of eternity (intentionality)? What inheritance, testament, and benediction do I leave behind as I prepare to cross the river of death in order to gain eternity (legacy)?
Embracing your true identity in Christ has much more weight than you may give it at this time. It is foundational while a teen-ager, formational during our twenties and thirties, and progressively solidifying for us until we come to cross the river of death. Embracing Your Identity in Christ: Renouncing Lies and Foolish Strategies is written to help you with this first season of spiritual formation. It is followed by three more in the same series; Calling to Christ: Where’s My Place?, Intentionality for Christ: What’s My Aim?; and Legacy from Christ: What’s My Message?
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About the Book
Although there is nothing sweeter than the Gospel, there is much more sweetness to be enjoyed. Few Christians seem to experience the transformation they hoped for, and often burn out too early. This is because we cannot escape the interpretation war each day over our identity. What if we are ruled by a lie more than the truth about who we are? What if condemnation has been their primary motivation, and has functioned for us more than grace, for too many years?
What if, on the front end, we already have what we try so hard to obtain? Dr. Bob Smart walks us through the practical steps to embrace our true identity in Christ by helping us embrace our glory, gender, story, acceptance, sonship, and more by renouncing lies, condemning thoughts, and foolish strategies.
About the Author
Robert Davis Smart has served in Christian ministry both on college campuses with the Navigators and as senior pastor of Christ Church for the last thirty years. As an author and editor he published his Ph.D. on Jonathan Edwards, contributed chapters on the Great Awakening, and written articles and reviews in theological journals. Bob is married, has five married children, and is a grandfather of eleven grandchildren. Bob has taught seminary courses on spiritual formation and theology in over twenty-five nations, and speaks often at conferences on marriage and family.