Your spiritual identity is the key to kingdom living.

If you have ever been to a circus, then you have undoubtedly spent some time looking at the elephants. It always amazed me that these enormous giants, each weighing several tons, could be kept in place by a single chain wrapped around one foot, which was tied to a small stake. Any one of these elephants could have easily ripped that stake out of the ground and run away, but that almost never happened because circus elephants have been conditioned to forget who they are. They have been trained to believe that the stake to which they are chained is stronger than they are themselves.

By that, I mean that these elephants have been trained since they were babies to submit when they feel the tug of that chain on their leg. The trainer has conditioned them to accept their chains so they can be tamed, controlled and put on display for the entertainment of others. This system works so well that whenever a circus elephant exercises its power to throw off its chains and go on a rampage, videos of it doing so quickly go viral.

Much like elephants in the circus, a lot of Christians are being held hostage by a small chain around their ankles that holds them down and keeps them from getting anywhere. These individuals go to church and hear about all the power and spiritual authority that God has for them as believers in Jesus Christ, but they can’t seem to kick free of the chains holding them back.

Your spiritual identity is the key to kingdom living.

The moment you placed your faith in Christ alone for salvation, God implanted a new nature deep within your being. This new nature, also called the new birth, is the reference point for your identity. When God gave you this new nature, through which you are now alive spiritually, He also put to death your old nature. This death occurred on the cross of Jesus Christ when He died for the sins of the world. This is why your identity as a Christian begins at the cross.

The truth of this is expressed so clearly in Galatians 2:20, which has been my life verse for many years. Galatians 2:20 states:

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

This incredible verse contains all that we really need to know about our identity as believers, condensed into one power-packed capsule. If you can absorb and apply what the Bible teaches in Galatians 2:20, you are well on your way to growing spiritually, because your identity is the key to your spiritual development.

If you have heard this verse many times and maybe even memorized it, as I have, it may not sound as shocking as it really is. The first phrase alone is jarring enough to let us know that something major is going on here. “I have been crucified with Christ.” You and I can put our names in there, because this is a done deal.

Now to be crucified is to die. We know that Jesus died on the cross, but His death also brought about the death of the sin nature of all those who are identified with Him. We are so completely identified with Christ that when we accept Him as our Savior, He takes up residence in our lives and puts to death the old nature within us, which is totally corrupted and ruined by sin. The death we experienced at the cross is death to sin and the old way of life we inherited from Adam. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” Paul asked (Romans 6:2).

Our old self is dead and gone, crucified with Christ on the cross and buried with Him when He was buried in the tomb (see Romans 6:4). Because that’s true, we had better be looking for our identity somewhere else, since dead people don’t grow.

A key step in spiritual growth and our identity with Christ that many Christians skip over is coming to grips with the fact of our death to sin and the old life. This spiritual death means that sin no longer is the core definition of who we are. Our problem with sin is now a problem of the flesh, which is the house we live in, not the essence of who we are.

We could spend an entire chapter or book examining this passage but for our time together in this newsletter, I wanted to point out that very important principle. You are no longer tied to the sin which Satan wants to deceive you into thinking that it binds you and holds you down. You have been set free in Jesus Christ. Will you take a moment to watch this video clip of a sermon I gave where I spoke more fully on this topic. You can watch it here.

Our problem with sin is now a problem of the flesh, which is the house we live in, not the essence of who we are.