by Alan D. Creech

Who are you? People usually just don't come up to you and say, "Who are you!?" It's usually a process... "What's your name?"; "Where are you from?"; "What do you do?"; "Are you married?"; etc., etc. And finally, after a couple of years, you may know who they are.

Now, pretty generally we know who WE are. We "know" ourselves. At least we know who we were. We know all the things that have made us who we are here on earth, in the life that we have lived. Most of the time, that "self" and what makes it up is all that we pay attention to or put any energy into. Now, though, that we are in Christ, we have been given a new identity - a new "self"...

2 COR. 5:16-17 _ "Because of this we no longer look on anyone in terms of mere human judgement... This means that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation..."

I don't think we really quite get the gist of that. Our "NEW IDENTITY" is not very REAL to most of us. It is kind of an abstract reality, but not a working and practical one. Do we really know what it means for "our life" to be hidden "in God"? For the most part, I think the answer to that question is a flag-waiving NO! "It's not important, though, to know all those deep things - that's for the theologians and most of them are crazy anyway. Ain't it enough I just believe in Jesus and go to church?" Well, frankly, NO!!! It's not enough to get done what needs to get done! Now, I'm not talking about your salvation - to be saved is it enough that you believe in Jesus? Absolutely! The question there is more appropriately, "Was what HE did enough", for your eternal salvation lies in what HE DID, not in what YOU DO. No, I'm talking about living out the new life you have been given here and now.

Once this "new self"; this "new identity" is placed inside you, you must go about discovering, again, WHO YOU ARE! You're not way along the path any more - You are on the starting line. Unfortunately, though, many of us seem to stay right on or just past it from there on out. Now, you're not running this race to "get to heaven" or to "get into heaven". What you need to realize is that in a very real sense, you are already there!

EPH. 2:4-7 _ "But God, who is ruch in mercy, because of the great love He had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace were you saved), raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ."

This new life that we have acquired is not simply a new kind of outward relationship we have between US and GOD. That's not how it is now. We have something MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE!!! What we're talking about is the revelation of eternal reality. What we have been brought into is something not easily understood by the human mind - in fact, it is something not at all understood by the human mind if not illumined by the Spirit of God. By this Spririt, we need to understand these truths in order for them to become real in our lives. If you don't know who you are, you can't be that person!

EPH. 1:22-23 _ "And He put all things beneath His feet and gave Him, as head over all things, to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all things in every way."

Have you ever thought of yourself as having a share in the very fullness of God Himself? Not just having the "right" to His stuff, but actually being a part of HIM! In this glorious and final Covenant that we have been given and in which we now live, we are no longer separate from Him. We are no longer far off needing to cry out, "O God, help me!" HE IS NOT IN THE SKY as far as we are concerned any more. The very essence of who and what He is is a part of the fabric of your being!!!

This thing is big - REALLY BIG! If's not merely some religious devotion you have for Him or even a love that you feel for Jesus. It's not just that YOU (DOWN HERE) have received this amorphous/nondistinct gift (salvation) from HIM (UP THERE) and now you have it and you thank Him for it and it entitles you to the right to ask Him for stuff and get it - and you're still "down here" and HE is still "up there". NOOOOOO!!!!!! If that is how you understand your relationship to God, your new life, then you have a very limited view indeed of what has truly taken place inside you.

Rom. 6:17 _ "But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with Him."

How many times have you meditated on that one lately? How can you do the works of Jesus? How can you Love with the Love of Jesus? How can you lay hands on the sick and they recover? How can you forgive with the forgiveness of Jesus? That small scripture is an awesome statement of eternal truth! As far as you're concerned, there is no greater truth! The truth of that statement is why and how we can do anything good, any work of God. Jesus did all those things because of who He was - a vessel of the eternal life of God. Now, we can also be and do those things because WE ARE WHO HE IS! We have the eternal life essence of God (the Holy Spirit) in us. It is our life! It is our identity!

COL. 2:9-10 _ "For in Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in Him, who is the head of every principality and power."