Your Identity Is Found in Christ, Not in Your Past
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. — Isaiah 43:18–19
Everyone carries a past. For some it is a record of achievement that props up their sense of worth. For others it is a record of failure that drags on every step. For most it is both, and either way the past has a habit of introducing us before we can speak for ourselves.
The Gospel does not erase your history. It does something better: it takes away its authority. What you did, what was done to you, where you came from - all of it remains true and none of it decides who you are. That has been decided elsewhere.
Where identity was settled
Paul had a past worth boasting about and a past worth hiding, and he says the same thing about both. He counts his achievements as loss for the sake of knowing Christ, and he does not let his crimes disqualify him from the race. "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (Philippians 3:13). His identity is not a summary of his biography. It is his union with Christ, and that union was made by God, not by Paul's record.
Four things the past will try to do
- Name you. "You are the one who…" The Word answers: you are the one in Christ.
- Predict you. "You always…" The Spirit answers: behold, I am doing a new thing.
- Excuse you. "Because of what happened, I cannot…" Grace answers: My power is made perfect in weakness.
- Shame you. "If they knew…" The cross answers: He knew, and He gave Himself for you.
Remembering rightly
Forgetting what lies behind does not mean pretending. Paul told his story often. The difference is that he told it as a story about grace, not about himself. Memory serves the believer when it points to what Christ has done; it enslaves him when it is allowed to have the last word.
So tell your past the truth. It happened. It was forgiven, or it was healed, or it is being healed. And it is not where you live. You live in Christ, and in Christ the future is more real than the past, because the future is where you appear with Him in glory.