Identity: Received not Achieved
Things work best when they are used they way they were designed to be used. When we live how we were designed and created to live, in the identity we were given by God, and in the purpose given to us by God, we experience joy and peace, fellowship with God like we were intended to have. If we’re not careful much of our lives can be spent living like a tool trying to do a job it was never intended to do. It’s vital that we allow our Creator to define us. You are not defined by your feelings. You are not defined by your circumstances. You are who God says you are. It doesn’t matter what others call you. It doesn’t even matter what you looked in the mirror and called yourself. There’s only one who actually has the right, the privilege, the authority, to give you your name, and it is the One who created you. Your history may have marked you, it may have hurt you, it may have labeled you, but it does not have the power to define the totality of who you are, because you are who your Creator says that you are.
Judges 6:1-18
Do not miss the detail of what Gideon was doing when the angel of the Lord showed up. “…Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.” Threshing wheat normally took place on a hilltop. The reason why you went onto a hilltop is because there was a breeze up there. The whole goal of threshing was to dislodge from the wheat the useless chaff. And the breeze would carry the chaff away. A wine press would be in the depression of a rock. It would be a damp, shaded environment at the bottom of a hill. There was no air moving through there. Gideon’s beating out wheat, but he’s not on a threshing floor, he’s in a wine press. Why? “To hide it from the Midianites.” The reason he’s in a wine press, is because he’s insecure, intimidated and fearful because of his circumstances.
The Angel of the Lord shows up to a man who is acting currently in fear and insecurity. And he says, “Let me tell you who you are. You are not your current behavior. You are a “mighty man of valor.” He tells him who he is, despite the way he’s behaving. We give our feelings too much power. Your feelings are not the engine, they’re the caboose, they’ll catch up. All feelings can do is feel. They don’t think. They don’t have intellect. They’re not that smart. You need to know who God says we are, and then you act like that, you make decisions based on your God given identity. Can you think of how our lives would be different if we would make decisions based on who God says we are and not the way we feel?
“And Gideon said to him, “Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” (Judges 6:13-14 ESV) Gideon is still allowing his circumstances to dictate his actions, to define him. But God again reminds Gideon of who he really is, “go in this might of yours.” Gideon clearly did nothing to achieve this identity of “mighty man of valor,” this identity was given to him by God.
“And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” (Judges 6:15-16 ESV) Again we see Gideon questioning the identity God has given him because of the identity that his culture had given him. Once again, we see that we don’t achieve our identity we receive our identity.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Think about this in the context of identity. When you are getting your identity from anywhere else besides the Creator it is very tiring. There will always be someone who does it better, someone better looking, someone with more money, a better businessperson, a better marriage, better children, nicer car, bigger house, and on and on. Someone will say something on social media that ruins your day, causes you to doubt, steals your joy and peace. Someone you trust will let you down and life crashes in around you. You get sick, you get old, you get laid off, you get in an accident, your children grow up and leave. Everything changes. If you’re trying to get your identity and purpose anywhere else than from the unchanging Creator God, it will be very tiring.
Jesus says, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” Rest is given, a gift, it is not achieved but received. Our identity is received and never achieved. If you try to achieve your identity you will get tired, it’s a heavy load.
But if what Jesus promises us is rest, why does He tell us to put on His yoke? A yoke is placed on an animal in order to do some work. Is Jesus offering us rest or work? That is precisely the question Jesus wants us to ask: What work must we do for Him that supposedly will give us rest? I think the answer is found in the word “easy.” “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” “Easy,” in this case, really means “well-fitting.” His yoke is well-fitting. I like how the biblical scholar William Barclay explains what Jesus means by this: “In Palestine,” he writes, “ox-yokes were made of wood; the ox was brought, and the measurements were taken. The yoke was then roughed out, and the ox was brought back to have the yoke tried on. The yoke was carefully adjusted, so that it would fit well, and not gall the neck of the patient beast. The yoke was tailor-made to fit the ox.” So, think about that: the yoke that Jesus offers is tailor-made for us. He doesn’t want it to be a burden. It’s not a burden because it’s what we were created to do. The yoke Jesus is offering is our true identity, our true purpose. He’s offering the life we were created and designed to have. He’s inviting us to live in the identity given to us by our Creator, He’s inviting us to live our lives in relationship with Him, along side Him, right where He created us to be.
Living Hope Ministries 