Real Hope: Identity in ChristSample

I’m Not Who I Used To Be

READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14–20

Recently, I was part of a short-term mission trip to Fiji. As part of our preparations, I shared with our youth that they would return a different person to who they were when they left. I was met with blank stares. Ten days later, as we were preparing to come home, they realised what I meant. They had been intensely impacted by seeing God work in another part of the world, that whilst they were already followers of Jesus, they once again had experienced His Spirit moving powerfully in their lives.

As followers of Christ, they are not who they used to be. They experienced Jesus in a fresh way. They are a renewed creation in Christ, reconciled to Himself afresh as they grow in their understanding of what it means to be His disciple. Compelled by Christ’s love (2 Corinthians 5:14) to serve, as Jesus served, they were overcome by boldness to share the Good News of Jesus with their friends and family once they returned home.

Knowing they have been reconciled by Christ (v19), they are now proudly ambassadors for Christ (v20) like never before and fully transformed by the power of Jesus working within and through them. They are children of God, made in His image, freed from all sin, redeemed for all of eternity, known and loved by the King of Kings.

What an encouragement to our faith, as their brothers and sisters in Christ. There’s no better identity than the one found in Christ Jesus.

Written by BREE BOND