By Jim Hammond

"I didn’t know you are an Artist!" said a gracious friend while looking at an oil painting hanging on the wall of . . . my garage. Am I an artist? Not really. I have an interest in art, and at one time a great interest, but that is not my identity. The fact is, my interest is not strong enough for me to be identified as an artist. I haven’t painted an oil painting in 10 years.

Many are interested in Christ, but few are truly identified with Christ. The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to be identified with Christ. His whole identity changed. He described it this way,

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

Jesus described this required identity change when he said "you must be born again." (John 3; See also where the Apostle Peter used this phrase in 1 Peter 1:23). Are you merely interested or has your whole identity changed? Let’s look at the difference.

Those merely interested in Christ go to church to learn about Him. Still interested, they might attempt to live like Christ. Still interested, they might even do this with all their effort. But notice what Paul says that is different. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live." There is a dramatic and dynamic difference between being interested and being identified. Are you trying hard to live out the principles of Christianity? That is what interested people do. But identified people understand that the root has to change. When the root changes so does the power source. You have to sign the death certificate to your sinful self. "I no longer live." Ego is crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I must learn to live out this dramatic identity change as it relates to daily living. I must learn how my position in Christ, my new and true identity, makes a real difference in my condition.

Pleasing God is based on this identity change and not based upon my ability to keep God’s moral rules. "The life I live. . .I live by faith in the Son of God." I must be convinced that no human being can please God by a system of self improvement. It is by my identification with Christ that I am made acceptable. I like the way Eugene Peterson translates this portion of Galatians, in The Message: New Testament,

Galatians 2:17-2:21 (TMNT)
Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

 

I signed the death certificate to self when I was baptized. I was baptized into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. I was buried with Christ and raised with Christ to a new life. Now I must learn to live according to my new identity. I have been crucified with Christ. I must stop attempting to do what has already been done. I don’t "try" to crucify my sinful self. It has already been done! I must live out my new spiritual identity in practice. The battle is the battle to truly believe it is so. I no longer live but Christ lives in me. In this identity there is power, and desire to please God. In this identity there is great gratitude and jubilant joy. Are you merely interested, or have you made the plunge, truly identifying yourself with Christ, making Christ the core of who you are, your new identity?