Identity

What is your identity? I sometimes think that my identity has been reduced to a date of birth, a national insurance number, a physical address, a phone number and an email address. That is all that the official people seem to want to know about me.

As for family relationships, in these days of genetics it seems to revolve around who you inherited your genes from. Your DNA defines your paternity and many of the characteristics you possess.

The Middle Ages were a different age. In those days the correct answer to the question of identity was supposed to be, "I am a Christian".

The Archbishop of Canterbury has had a recent shock. He has discovered that the father he thought he inherited his genes from was not in fact his biological father. A DNA test unearthed that it was somebody completely different. The Archbishop has received credit for the way he has handled this news, which for some people could be really devastating. He can respond to the news about his paternity with calmness and even humour, since he regards his real identity as being in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This seems to me an excellent response and a challenge to the thinking of the current age. Many times at funerals a list is read out of relationships that the dead person has had: father, brother, son, uncle, husband … and so the list goes on.

No doubt for some people the recital of this is comforting. I would certainly not wish to deprive them of their solace at funeral times. All I know is that I personally no longer qualify for such a memorial. I have no living blood relatives left to testify how good I am as a family member. So, more than ever, I find my true identity where it really is – the fact that I am a Christian.

If that is truly a man or woman’s lasting memorial, it is a great loss if they decline in their lifetimes to claim a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. If they persist in not finding their identity in Him, they are virtually robbing themselves of their place in history and in eternity at the same time.

The apostle Peter distanced himself from his Master three times in quick succession. When invited to declare his association with Him at a dangerous moment, He denied all knowledge of Him.  Fortunately, there was a way back for Peter. After Jesus had risen from the dead, the merciful Saviour made a point of visiting Peter specially. He challenged him to renew his allegiance and once again find his identity in Him – a challenge which Peter now readily accepted. Not only did he cease to be a nobody, he is forever remembered as the natural spokesman for the remaining disciples who made up the first Christian Church.

The apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy reminds us:

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful –
for he cannot deny himself.”

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)

Who are you? What is your identity? I hope you do not rely on your genetic make-up or your nationality or your race or any such thing. Come rain or shine, come easy times or the cold winds of persecution, we need to remind ourselves of this one thing that really matters: "I am a Christian".