By: Lauren Thomas
Identity is a hot topic everywhere. But there is singularity to the female struggle with identity. For us, identity starts with roles and titles: daughter, sister, friend. It changes based on season of life: girl, woman, single, wife, mother, grandmother, widower. And in our culture, it is defined by appearance. And ability. And achievement. And age. And “worth.” A woman’s identity intersects with societal constructs and cultural opinions.
It can be hard to know who we are as women, especially as any one of these things can change in an instant.
But as women of God, we have the opportunity to trade in all this confusion for an identity in Christ.
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26-28 (ESV)
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:11 (ESV)
In both passages, Paul is addressing our identity in Christ. But both passages involve specifiers:
· In Christ (Galatians 3:26)
· Baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27)
· Put on Christ (Galatians 3:27)
· Put on the new self (Colossians 3:10, 12, 14)
If we engage with the world’s methods of defining our identity, there will be confusion. There will be desperation in searching. There will be poor decisions made in an attempt to figure out who we are.
But when we trade in all the confusion, all the ways the world defines identity, and choose, instead, to be completely immersed by Christ, our identity is sure and simple. We are one in Christ. We are children of God. The end to the identity struggle.
It might sound overly simplistic. But that’s because it is. How others define you – how the world defines you – simply doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who or what the world says you are. If you are in Christ, that’s where your identity is found. And that is the only identity that matters.
So today, stop devoting mental space to your image. Stop wondering how people see you. Stop counting your “losses” and assessing your “worth.” Stop wishing for a different season to give you a different title. And choose instead to immerse yourself in Christ. Take on the identity he gives you.
Reflection:
In what ways do you struggle with identity as a woman?
How can we immerse ourselves in the identity that Christ offers us?
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