Tuning in to identity.

We did a couple of revisions in our home lately. For one thing, we’d (myself included) been eating way too many sweet treats. Lemme tell you, my pancreas wasn’t happy with that. And we’d been watching a lot of TV. It’d become kind of like a crutch for me. “Oh! I need to put your brother down! You can watch Daniel Tiger while I get him ready for nap/bed.” Do you know what an entitled four year old looks like? we almost had one on our hands, and I wanted to nip it in the bud (or butt, as my darling husband says). With that in mind, we relegated sweets and television to weekends only, with special events in mind, too. I’m not trying to be mean, but teaching discipline. Anyway, I digress… the whole purpose of this particular post is, after all, identity, and this past weekend our movie was the 2016 Cinderella.

I love the way Disney is putting fresh spins on their classics, and Cinderella is no different. There is a time where Lady Tremaine is trying to put down Cinderella to keep her from going to the ball. I had to pause. “I want you to know, Fidgets, that there are people who are going to try and tell you mean things and hope you’ll believe them. But I also want you to know who you are, independent of them. You are God’s…”

“Child!” she exclaims.

“Yes. You are His child. He loves you, and He will never leave you.”

“Ok, mama. Can we watch the movie now?”

Well, she knew she was God’s child, so there is that. Her fascination with finishing this movie though? We’ll work on that.

As I had this conversation, I realized this world is FULL of naysayers who tell you, “you’re unworthy. You’re ugly. No one loves you. No one wants you.” And there will be times, a lot of times maybe, that you believe them. Maybe you feel like you’re too far gone and that God can never reach you there. (Dear friend, that is a lie. The Bible says even if you lay in the depths of Sheol, or the grave, He’s there. It also says that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ) Maybe, you think you’ve been deserted or desolate. (More lies. The devil lives there.) But let me tell you this. The Bible says He loves you.

Dear, dear friends, I know this to be true. Cling to who He is when all you hear is lies. Let Him tell you who you are to Him. You are His delight, His child, His beloved. When you cling to Him, you can’t help but hear Him whisper into your very being, into your soul, who He called you to be. Perhaps that is why I had to stop the movie when I did. As her mom, I want to protect her childhood innocence as long as I can, I want to speak her true identity into her, and I want to prepare her for the world in a way that perpetuates kindness, courage, and confidence.  I want her to learn confidence in who she is now so when the world tries to tell her differently, her foundation is firm. There will be a time when I do have to set her free, but now? Now is the time I tell her, “I’m so proud the way you chose to ride the zip line, even if it scared you. That was very brave. I’m so proud of the way you took turns on the trampoline with your friends. That was very kind. I’m so proud of the way you love your brother. You’re an excellent and confident big sister.” Maybe God is whispering things to you like this. “Child, I’m so proud of you for speaking to that person when I know it was outside your comfort zone. I’m so proud of the grace you extended to that person who cut in line at Chick-Fil-A. I’m so proud.” He’s your Dad, guys. And He wants the best for you.

Here are some other truths about how God sees you.

1. We are adopted into His family. Little bit more info here. In this time period, adoption was often used when a wealthy individual didn’t have any heirs and they would adopt someone to inherit their estate. Let’s go a bit further with this. When you were adopted, your past life was wiped clean. You were essentially this person’s child. 100%. There was no disowning you, either. By God adopting us in, He says, “Your past doesn’t matter to me. I have all this wealth and I want you to have it as my child.”

2. We are co-heirs with Christ. We get joint inheritance with the Son, which is kind of mind-boggling, and I guess, that kinda makes Him our brother, too…

3. Our sins were crucified with Christ. When we say yes to being His disciple, we are saying our sins are gone and we allow Christ to sanctify us, to make us holy as He is holy. We still have our earthly bodies, and we still sin, but because of Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection, we no longer need to live with the identity of “sinner” because grace and love have us covered.

4. We are made in His image, male AND female. Sometimes I get caught up in what people have done and let that predicate their worth, but by doing so, I neglect them in a way that I believe makes God sad. I’m looking at a person who makes mistakes, who may have made a ton of mistakes and hurt a lot of people, but that person, whether it’s bin Laden or my next door neighbor, is still made in the image of God. They are not beyond His help. Sometimes, I let my greed and pride get in the way of the greatest commandments, to love God and to love others. To take it a step further, this also means that the people who look differently than I do, whether because of ethnicity or race, or because they are differently abled and may have different needs than me, are His, too.

5. I can’t say this enough… You and I are LOVED. Beyond measure, beyond our idea of sanity. We are loved, warts and all. And it’s time we lived like it.