Welcome to a brand new series titled Identity. This series, developed in collaboration with my dear friend Mildred Sawant, hopes to help us understand who we are in Christ so that we can lead lives of freedom and happiness. Today I’m going to be trying to answer a question: Who Are You? It is a question we all need to answer because most of us don’t really have a clue.

Let me tell you a story. Have you heard of the San Diego Chicken? It is arguably the world’s most famous sporting mascot played for over forty years by a guy named Ted Giannoulas. Ted would dress up as a chicken and entertain people all over the world, usually at sporting venues. He was in college when he first became the Chicken as part of a promotion to distribute eggs to children. Soon, he became an international phenomenon. Good for Ted, right? Perhaps not, because the Chicken quickly became Ted’s whole identity. He was rarely photographed out of his costume! No one knew the real Ted! Ted often said “I have plenty of Chicken stories. But no Ted stories.”

So, what’s this gotta do with us? Everything, because we may not walk around in a chicken suit like Ted, but we walk around wearing a lot of different suits, trying to be peope we are not. First, we try to be what people want us to be. Everybody expects us to be some kind of person. It begins with our parents, then our teachers and friends, then just about everybody else. And we often try to meet their expectations, don’t we?

Then, we try to be who WE imagine who we should be. When we are little this is usually a superhero: Batman, Spiderman, Superman. I remember I wanted to be Tarzan. Fortunately, we grow out of this—I hope we do— but if we introspect, we will realize we are still trying to be some image we have of ourselves.

Thirdly, we try to be who we IMAGINE God wants us to be, which is usually some super-holy, super-religious person. This is often influenced by the preachers we are listening to, but sometimes it is our own concept of what we think God wants us to be.

So, what do we do? We need to become the people God created us to be, people made in his image and likeness, and the first step in achieving that is by accepting who we are as we are. Yes, I know that there are many things that are wrong with us that we would like to correct. I know that we have many weaknesses that we hate. But as we begin this series, I want you to just relax and accept who you are as you are. You are fine. Really.

And I want you to know two very important things. One, God loves you as you are. There is nothing you can do to make him love you more. And there is nothing you can do that will make him love you less. He just loves you. Accept that as a fundamental truth. And, two, God will change you, if you allow him to. He is the potter, we are the clay, and all we need to do is to cooperate with him? And one of the ways God changes us is by telling us who we really are.

As we progress through this journey and you discover the truth about your identity, about who you are, you will find yourself changing without even realizing it. So, stick with us for a month, and see the difference it makes to your life. I’m gonna leave you now with something from Scripture. I’ll give you a verse or a passage every day. Try to memorize it if you can, or at least read it a few times. This is one of my favorites.

Paul asks: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35,37-39).

Say Amen. God bless you.

Memory Verse: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord — Romans 8:35,37-39