Why Your Identity in Christ Matters

Why does it matter that we know—deep within our hearts and minds—our identity in Christ? What difference does it actually make in our Christian life and calling?

Walking around with a case of mistaken identity can have disastrous consequences. Check out this limerick from moreillustrations.com:

In this blog:

• 31 "I Am" statements about your identity in Christ, with supporting Bible verses
• An encouraging video about your identity in Christ
• A concise summary of the biblical "I Am" statements about your identity in Christ

Your Identity in Christ: 31 “I Am” Statements

A strong sense of identity was important even to Jesus when He was on the earth!

Immediately before Jesus began His earthly ministry, His heavenly Father affirmed Jesus’ identity:

• [God the Father said to Jesus when Jesus was baptized,] “This is my dearly loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

So also, in order for us to accomplish the Christian calling God gives us, we need to know—deep in our hearts—who we are in relationship with Him. With that knowledge, we’ll live more joyfully, confidently, and fruitfully. Without that knowledge, we’ll be “et by the dogs in the hall": doubt, anxiety, fear, and ineffectiveness!

Who better to tell us our true identity than the Almighty God who made us? The Bible is full of affirmations about who we are in Christ. 

See below for 31 "I Am Statements" about your identity in Christ, with supporting Scripture verses, organized specifically for the purpose of encouraging you in your Christian life and calling.

Your Identity in God Before You Were Ever Born

Even before you knew about God—before you decided to follow Him—God knew you and loved you.

1. I Am Made in God’s Image

• So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

2. I Was Planned by God—I Am Not an “Accident”

• You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. (Psalm 139:13-15)

3. God Loved Me Even Before I Followed Him

• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Your Identity in Christ After You Accepted Him as Savior

The Bible says that we are not born Christians. We do not become Christians by joining a church or doing good deeds. We become Christians by asking Christ (Jesus) to forgive our sins and lead our lives.

We become Christians through following Christ, as the Bible says:

• The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12)

To see more of what the Bible says about how to know you are a Christian, click this blog: How to Know You’re Saved.

After you accept Jesus as your Savior, the Bible says you are made right with God.

4. I Am a New Creation Through Christ

• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

5. All of My Sins (Wrong-Doings) Are Forgiven

• You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

6. I Am Justified; I Have Peace with God

• For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8)
• All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
• Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

7. I Am Not Condemned

• Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

8. I Am Righteous in God’s Sight

• God made him who had no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

9. I Am Sanctified—Being Reborn to Be Like Christ

• I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

10. I Have Been Rescued from the Powers of Darkness

• For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. (Colossians 1:13)

11. I Am Filled with the Holy Spirit

• And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

12. I Will Never Be Alone

• So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. (Isaiah 41:10)
• It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)

13. God Will Provide for My Needs

• And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

14. I Need Not Be Afraid or Anxious

• So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 40:10)
• For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
• Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

15. I Am Secure in God’s Salvation of My Soul

• 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 8:38-39)

16. I Am Free

• So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)
• It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

17. I Will Be Glorified; I Will Go to Heaven When I Die

• Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:8-11)

Your Identity in Christ as God’s Son or Daughter

18. I Am God's Beloved Son/Daughter.

• To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
• God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:5)
• See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (John 1:12)

19. I Have an Inheritance as God Child, Including Full Access to Him and His Power

• Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)
• In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
• Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

20. I Am a Member of God's Family, the Church

• Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

Your Identity in Christ as God’s Servant, Friend, and Coworker

FIRST, we are God children—His dearly loved son or daughter.

SECOND, we are God’s servants, friends, and coworkers.

21. I Am God’s Servant

• Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all. (Mark 9:35)
• In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)

22. I Am God’s Friend

• [Jesus said,] "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

23. I Am God’s Coworker

• For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9)
  

Your Unique Calling in Christ

Because Jesus knew who He was, He knew what God had called Him to do. Jesus’ identity came FIRST. His calling came SECOND.

The best way to gain clarity about what God has called you to do is to know and act authentically from who you are.

Because your identity in Christ includes all of the above items, you are also called by God to make a difference for Him in this world. That is your Christian calling.

24. I Am Uniquely Called by God

• It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. (Ephesians 1:11-12, MSG)

25. God Created and Called Me into His Marvelous Purposes

• For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 1:10)

26. I Am a World-Changer

• [Jesus said,] "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

27. I Am Empowered by God for My Calling

• [The apostle Paul said, while in prison because of his calling,] "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:12-13)

28. God Will Make Me Fruitful in My Calling

• [Jesus said,] "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father." (John 15:5-8)

29. I Am a Conquerer—and More!

• [The apostle Paul said, as he and his Christian brothers and sisters toiled and suffered in their calling,] "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)
  

God's Assurance of Victory in Your Christian Life and Calling

30. I Have Victory in Jesus

• Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

31. God Will Complete the Unique Calling He Has Given Me

• …being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
• I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)
• Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
  

GOD SAYS SO—SO I AM!

Why are all of these "I Am Statements" true? 

Because God has said so! The Almighty God of the universe has made them true!

He is God. He is Truth. He created you, and He says all of these things about you, because you have been redeemed through salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ!

How do the “I Am Statements” above encourage you in your Christian life and calling?

Check out the encouraging video below for 100 “I Am” statements about your identity in Christ:

Please Share!

*  Please share your comments, questions, encouragement, etc., below.

*  Below, please let me know what topics you’d like for me to write about in future blogs.

*  Please share this blog on social media or via email. Just use the share buttons at the side or bottom of your screen.