Can I see some identification?: Proving your identity.
So I went to Nordstrom yesterday to cop the new Riri hearts MAC Fall collection. I had to! It was so necessary! Funny thing happened while I was there. When I was literally handing the sales associate the products, the fire alarm went off! How Ridiculous!?
I thought "Any plans of the enemy trying to hinder the progression of my make-up collection, I bind and cast to the pit of hell in Jesus name!"
So the associate took down my name and the names of my products so I could easily come and claim them once the drill ended. Others did the same to ensure they get their Riri products.
So finally after some moments, the fire drill ended.
I, rightfully, claimed my spot in the front of the line. While my sisters were paying for the their products, we heard a loud voice behind us say "You're not Shanique!" The whole line turned their heads and focused to the back of the line, where we discovered an angry woman ready to set it off. Apparently she was the real Shanique and someone else claimed to be her to get her lipsticks. The real Shanique was yelling, "I'm Shanique. You're not Shanique. I wrote my name down for those products. You can't do that!" The real Shanique was livid that someone had the audacity to try to steal her identification and most importantly, steal her lipsticks!
The fake Shanique stood there quietly, scared on to what to say, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
I wish y'all were there to see how hard I was laughing. That had to be the funniest thing I ever seen happen at the MAC store.
Shanique knew her identification and was proud to let the whole store know it too. She didn’t care who was looking and who heard her. She was willing to look crazy to remind everyone at MAC who the real Shanique was. Shoot, all of Nordstrom knew who she was after that incident. Can the same be said for us, as believers? Do we know our identity as children of God?
Unlike Shanique's case, being a child of God does not require you to prove that you are a child of a God.
Many of us receive love through "words of affirmation". Things people say about us and/or to us affect us positively, negatively, subconsciously and consciously. So to feel accepted in the body of Christ, we judge our walk and growth in maturity, based on what people say to us or feel about us.
Yes, Shanique had to prove that she was Shanique to the sales associate in order to obtain her products, but you don't have to prove to anyone or anybody that you are a child of God to obtain affirmation.
It is not your duty/responsibility/job/position to prove/confirm/convince to anyone that you are who you say you are.
You know who didn't know their identity? Adam and Eve. They didn't know, so their lack of knowledge is what caused them to perish.
Genesis 1:26, 27 NIV
"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."
Adam was created to "be like God". He was created in the image of God. Adam was created to reflect God. That was his God-given identity. Because Eve was taken from Adam's rib, she to was indirectly 'created to be like God'.
Genesis 3:4-5 NIV
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Whoa dere! Pause. Wait a minute! If Adam and Eve were already like God, why did the serpent try to tell them the apple could make them like God? Because Adam and Eve weren’t aware of their God-given identify. They didn't know it, so they took the one they were offered by the enemy.
When you don’t know your identity, you allow the enemy to manipulate and deceive you. Because you don’t know your identity, you believe the lies of the enemy. The devil was able to convince Adam and Eve that they weren’t like God and the apple was able to make them like God. Not knowing their identity led to their downfall and them being banished from the Garden of Eden.
You know who knew their identity?
Jesus
Mark 15:2-5 NIV
“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
The Chief Priests and the Elders were accusing him of so many false allegations. Jesus could have easily told them he wasn't any of the things they called him. But he didn’t. Why? Because He knew he was the Messiah. Nobody had the ability to try to convince Him he wasn’t. He stood firm in his identity and wasn’t going to believe the lies of the enemy. He didn't even have to bother to convince them that he wasn't the anything, but the Son of Man.
Mark 15:12-14 NIV
“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
As Jesus was forced to carry the cross on his back through the crowd, we need to realize that the crowd wasn’t cheering Him on or praising Him. They were insulting Him and cursing Him. Did that affect Jesus? No sir! He endured because He knew His identity. Jesus could have easily said to the crowd, “Ya'll know I didn't do anything. I am sinless. It because of y’all, ya’ll mama and all ‘em that I have to do this. Ya'll need to be thanking me!” But what did my man do? He remained silent and endured what He had to do. He didn't try to convince the crowd He was who He said He was. He just looked to the Father. Jesus remained silent till He was nailed to the cross, when He finally cried to the One who matters, God.
It is time we stop believing the lies of the enemy when it comes to our identity. You are hurting yourself due to your lack of knowledge. Low key you are insulting the Father because you are indirectly saying, “I don’t like what You call me. I don’t believe I am that. I rather live by what other people say I am.”
We need to charge our mindset. Let us stop proving to others we are children of God and let’s start living in our identities.
