Who We Are in Christ

Many years ago I felt like a weak, insecure girl. Yet something in me felt that despite my feelings and habits, this was not really who I was. I didn’t know why I had that idea, or where it came from. But I felt it. Somehow it seemed that deeper than my burdensome emotions was someone I could be proud of - a young woman of strength, peace, and security. I prayed I could experience her one day.

As I learned more about Christianity, I realized that the weaker girl I often felt dominated by, was part of my “old self.” Whereas the person I felt I could be, was part of my “new self.” Now, you may have heard about the old and new selves as a basic Christian concept. But what does it really mean, and how does it apply practically to our lives? Many people will go through their entire lives not thinking about this concept, and will miss out on a valuable compass through life, as a result.

Understanding our Old Self

The Old Self is the person, or essence of our soul, that we have inherited from the Fall. It comes from willfulness; a distrust of God, and a desire to be our own Lord. The old self shows itself present in our lives when we act or feel in these ways:

• Weak and insecure

• Stubborn, willful

• Unforgiving, resentful

• Foolish and careless

• Easily angered

• Self-centered, self-entitled

• Believe lies about ourselves and others

• Proud

• Focus on things outside of God

• Think and behave self-destructively (or violently with others)

• Lack self-control and/or feel lustful

Anything that is negative toward others, negative toward ourselves, and resistant to God, comes from our old selves. Yet the old self is also false. It is an illusion and we are not our old selves anymore. When we come to Christ, He takes it from us and gives us a new self. When we encounter these things in our lives they are only surface, just loud and distracting. But the core of us has changed forever, and if we pay attention to this new self in us, we allow it to rise to the surface and grow.

So What about this New Self?

A few years after first praying that God would make me into the “real me,” I got my chance to change. But it didn’t come easily. It came through a deeply challenging experience to give up what I thought I wanted, for God’s plan for my life. Basically, I had the opportunity to really trust God and choose His desires, thereby making Him more important to me than anything else. Surprisingly for me, I not only felt a greater closeness to God through this experience; I also began to feel a greater closeness to someone that was always inside me.

God does not leave us with the emptiness of hardened shells from the Fall. He has instead, given us access into a new life that comes from the essence of His own Spirit. God sent His Son to take on our sins, and open the way for unhindered connecting with Him. Jesus willingly suffered as He took on the dark parts of us, those things that were holding us captive even if we were unaware, in order to grant true freedom. And with His new life of resurrection from death, He gave us that exact same Spirit of new life, to have another chance at real living. Christ’s death gives us access back to our purest selves - a self that was made in the image of God. "Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).

Yet your new self is not only new. It is also your real self…The person you were created to be originally, before the Fall ever occurred. When I felt like that weak person was not really “me,” I was right. Some characteristics of our new self are:

• Peace, strength, joy

• Wisdom and discernment

• Surrender to the will of God

• A heart after the will of God

• Purity and self control

• Forgiveness and love

• Inner security and confidence

• Trust and love for God

• Selflessness

• Humility

In becoming more connected to my Creator, I began to feel more of who He created in me. I began to not only know that I was wiser, stronger, and more at peace…I began to feel those things. I always thought I would get to those places by seeking them out myself. I never knew that it was through abandoned focus on God, that those things would naturally come. Today, as I continue to allow God to teach and mold me, no matter how hard it can sometimes be, I begin feeling more of those aspects in myself. And it always ends up feeling good. *(Remember that...sometimes we don't know how good it feels to be changed, until we start changing).

We as Christians may know how we should feel, think and act. But the great thing is, these things are not supposed to be just things we know in our heads. Nor are they things that are supposed to be forced, like ways we try to live. They are supposed to be things we can feel inside; things that come naturally to us. We are meant to experience what it means to be new – at peace, strong, and content. And then act from those places, based on a growing closeness with God that inevitably leads to this uncovering and development of our true selves. Many of us want to have those things deep within, and we are right to want to feel them. God desires the same for us, dearly. And He will take us there, if we just give ourselves to Him.

Now, as I pointed to above, we are always on a journey to uncover more of this true self in us. In growing closer to God, His Spirit makes us feel differently. His Spirit will also call attention to things that if we allow Him to, He will take from our lives to only benefit us. Even when the road through releasing our negative habits and realizing our true nature is challenging, it always ends up being worth it.

God sees who you really are, and He longs for you to experience your full wholeness and potential in Him. His love for us is too great to leave us somewhere less than beautiful.

What it Comes Down to

The great news is that God never sees us as our old selves. Even if all we can see or feel at the present moment is negative or weak, God always sees beneath that and identifies us as those strong, lovely, capable people. No matter how strong the feelings or thoughts may be, we must see that our old self is only on the surface. It is not who we are. Rather, the quiet presence of our new self is what forms our identity.

The book, TrueFaced: Trust God and Others with Who You Really Are, states that a caterpillar already has the DNA of a butterfly. If a biologist were to look at it, he would say, “This is not a caterpillar, it is a butterfly.” While the caterpillar has not yet been transformed, it is still already something else in essence. And it is just awaiting the time to experience more of what it really is.

We are made in the likeness of a beautiful God; equipped to experience an abundant life. If we ask to receive more of who we were made to be, we can count on God to give us that which He also desires.

Dear Lord, I thank you that you have not left us alone, but have come to give us new lives in you. I praise you for wanting so much to grant us abundant and beautiful experiences in ourselves, with you, and with others. You are such a good and utterly gracious God. You are also an incomparably powerful God. You are able to transform us and build us always into not only people that are stronger in you, but also into people who are happier in ourselves a well. I pray that you would continue to look at all your children and share with them who they really are. To help them give their false selves to you and to identify with their real selves more and more. God bless them in experiencing more of who you created them to be, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.