8 minute read
Guiding Light
By Chip Ingram
In a recent sermon series, Chip Ingram explores the way our identity in Christ begins with first understanding what He thinks about us. Do you know what He says about YOU?
There aren’t many things that philosophers, psychologists, and theologians agree upon, but there is one.
From the time we’re very young until the end of our lives, we all ask the same questions:
Who am I?
Where do I belong?
What am I supposed to do?
These are issues of identity, security, and significance, and every stage of life can bring up these questions once again (spoiler alert: the answer is always the same).
How can we wrestle with these questions considering our place in the Kingdom?
YOU ARE VALUABLE
As we’ve learned in recent studies on (Romans 12), He wants us to surrender to Him. That includes understanding YOUR worth and value.
You cannot love other people if you don’t love YOU. This requires being honest about who you are, Who created you, and being able to say:
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I matter. God has a plan for me. I have the right personality. I have the right gifts. I don’t need to be like anyone else.
Unfortunately, most of us spend a great majority of our time and energy trying to be like someone else. To be honest, sometimes we wish we were someone else.
We dress like other people, act like other people, and spend time and energy trying to be a replica of someone else. And yet God made us uniquely, and nobody else on the entire planet has the same DNA.
You were created just as the Creator intended because He has a purpose for you. He wants to do something great in you and then something significant through you.
How can you begin to come to grips with the real you? Start by learning what your Creator has to say about the real you.
10 Powerful Bible Verses That Reveal Your True Identity In Christ 1. Romans 8:29
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
God’s dream is to make you like His SON or DAUGHTER. He wants us to conform to the image of Christ.
2. Matthew 5:48
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We are called to maturity, which is a process that includes discipline and endurance.
3. Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Take inventory but do it soberly—be honest about who you are. God already knows (and He loves you). Think ACCURATELY about yourself.
4. Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.
God uniquely created you. Resist the lie that says you have no purpose. You are ETERNALLY VALUABLE.
Download a printable poster of this verse today and post it in your office or home. Be reminded daily that you were created wonderfully!
Your Creator made you fearfully and wonderfully. You matter. You don’t need to be like anyone else.
5. Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God gifted you to fulfill His purpose. You are IRREPLACEABLY SIGNIFICANT.
6. Romans 12:4-5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many forms one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
As part of the body, you are set apart and you have a unique purpose within the body of believers. Being a member of this family is part of your identity. You have a ROLE to fill.
7. Romans 12:6-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
What brings you joy? Where is your naturally leading gift? While you serve the body, consider your gift. Discover and DEPLOY your spiritual gift.
Serving the body of Christ is part of your identity. What brings you joy? Where is your natural gifting? Discover and deploy your spiritual gifts.
See BIBLE VERSES on Page 42
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BIBLE VERSES
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8. Ephesians 3:19
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
God placed you in His family where you will experience His love and fullness. You are UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPTED.
9. Ephesians 4:13
…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Exercise our faith within the body of Christ. Work out your faith within CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.
10. Joshua 1:8
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Remember these words of Truth. MEDITATE on God’s Word.
Once you begin thinking accurately about yourself and grasp your identity in Christ, it will change you. It will alter your marriage, your attitude, your parenting, and your responses to the challenges of life.
Ultimately, you will realize that you were made with purpose, for a purpose, and there is no one like you. That is your identity. > Copyright © Living on the Edge. All rights reserved. >
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GOALS
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Put it in writing.
Fun fact: People who regularly write down their goals earn nine times as much during their lifetimes as people who don’t.1 Imagine that! If you want your goal to feel real, it needs to be in writing, and it needs to be visible to you and your team. Don’t just jot it down in a journal, then throw that journal in your file cabinet. Set up a scoreboard, hang a banner, or have something designed for each team member’s desk—get your goal on paper, on purpose.
Communicate your goals to your team.
When you cast a big vision (in other words, have a big goal for your business), you gotta get your team excited about it. The team needs to see what part they can play so that you’re pulling people into goals instead of pushing the goal onto them. When leadership sets goals for their team without creating buy-in, they’re not setting goals—they’re setting quotas. And no one likes quotas. Share “the why” behind these goals. To create buy-in from your team, the right hand needs to know why the left hand is doing what it’s doing.
Celebrate milestones.
It’s easy to move along from one project to the next without stopping to look around at what you’ve accomplished. That’s no way to live life! And besides, what gets rewarded is what gets repeated. Seriously, when you celebrate wins, big and small, you send a signal to your brain that says the action or behavior is worth repeating in the future.
So, what are you going to do to celebrate the small wins on the way to your big goal?
Remember, goals are not wishes, dreams, or even visions. Goals bring
ELECT #60
those things down to earth and create actual action steps to make those things come true. And big goals require big backbone—that only comes from caring deeply about the result. When you care about the end of the story, you will work your way through the thick of it.
Ready to hit your goals and create unstoppable momentum?
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