What Is Your Secret Identity?
Good Morning Friends,
I have a pile of identity badges at home from conferences and clubs I have attended around the world. They served as proof of my identity so others could know a little about me. They got me into meetings and meals but they reveal so little. I have name badges for church as well to let others know I belong and as a welcome to others, but I rarely wear them. All this prompts me to ask questions about my own distinctiveness in this world….who I think I really am….whose I think I really am. Friends, wearing the tag is ok but the challenge in our day to day lives is to live out our Christian character so that others can recognize us by our gift of love. Only here in concert with the Holy Spirit are the super powers of Christ in us made manifest. What Is Your Secret Identity?
Scripture: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:13-17 (NRSV)
Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John 4: 4 (NRSV)
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
John 14:12-14 (NRSV)
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17 (NRSV)
Message: Who are you really deep inside? What is your identity? I think we are what God’s Word says we are. We are forgiven. We are redeemed. We are righteous through the righteousness of God in Christ…joint heirs with Jesus. But sometimes our character is hidden.
It is a common literary motif: the character who knows his identity but cannot declare it, who must walk through the world hidden in plain sight. It is a painful thing, difficult to read or watch. Strider is secretly Aragorn, the heir to the throne of men in Lord of the Rings. He lives in shadows, conflicted about the discovery of his true name. Clark Kent is really Superman. His alternating urges to reveal himself and to remain in disguise is always in conflict leaving us wondering when he is going to take off the glasses. Most of the time the super hero in us is like, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker. The question is who we will become when there is trouble. Is there a Super Man, Batman or Spider Man inside of us or perhaps something more? The reality is that most of Jesus’ ministry was mild mannered. He did not flaunt his powers but was very strategic in creating opportunities for new things…redeeming things. And the amazing thing is that once our identity is in Christ, great things can happen in our lives as well. Discovering our gifts, our super powers are so important. Buy they need to be revealed at the proper time. Halfway through Matthew’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples to identify him. By that time, Jesus had traveled the countryside preaching hope to hopeless people. He had extended a healing touch to those cast off by society. He had told stories of judgment that seem to be aimed at those in power. People have begun to whisper about who Jesus might be and what he was up to. And so, in a side moment, when Jesus is with his disciples away from the crowd, he asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” The fact is people aren’t sure. Very soon thereafter, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James and John, and God’s own voice from heaven, reconfirms in their hearing the true identity of Jesus that was first publically confirmed at his baptism. But what must be a cruel irony for Jesus, only the demons he encounters seem to recognize him for who he truly is. So too the demons in us know who he but our best self seems unable to cry out his identity, unable to share his true nature in us. That is the challenge. Throughout all history, Jesus is too often a stranger to those who purport to love him. Such is the nature of Super Heroes. Such is the challenge of love.
Pray we build up an identity that reflects God’s values. Pray that we are confident about Christ’s identity in us. Pray we are joined together into a recognizable identity that is the Body of Christ. Pray that our identity is in the unity of a loving community.
Pray we never lose our spiritual identity.
Pray we honor God by being completed in Christ’s love.
Pray our true identity as people of light, our secret identity of followers of Christ not be so secret. Pray we take on the family identity of the divine. Pray we use this super power to save the world and fight evil and heal other’s spirit and to create and multiple and build. Pray we not use our personal power to tear down or to kill or to steal or to destroy or stunt the growth of others. Pray we use our super powers for good…a good revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 