V.
Purified Identity through the Presence of God
and the Work of the Cross
The key to winning the purity of
our identity in Christ is our abiding in the Presence
of God to whom our identity is drawn. The
Presence of God becomes the anchor of the soul as
it endures the work of the cross in
severing it from the force of natural life through
its conflict with earth-based identity.
Whether at peace or war
therefore, we have to immerse ourselves in the
awareness of the Presence of Jesus Christ. It is
to be our consistent reference point for inward
focus. We have to spend much, much time with God.
By this we feed our true identity, re-affirming
who we really are, and, through the work of the
cross, subduing the remaining awarenesses of old
identities.
·
When
national
governments make demands on us which challenge the
purity of our Christian identity, appealing to us
through our natural sense of national identity, we
have to turn inward to the Presence of God and
declare, "By God's grace I am no longer an
American."
·
When
political
parties tempt us to compromise our new identity
the same way, we turn into God and say, "By
God's grace I am no longer a Republican (or
Democrat)."
·
When
family
puts pressure on us contrary to the Spirit,
appealing through the force of blood identity, we
have to turn into God's Presence and affirm, "In
Christ I am no longer a Jones."
·
When
sin
tempts us through the force of our sexual
identity, we have to move into God and declare, "By
grace I am no longer male (or female)."
Feeding
on the Presence of God is the key to victory
of the purity of our new identity while
enduring the work of the cross over every evil
challenge of natural life through earth-based
identity.
The less we come to respond to
life according to our sense of natural identities,
the less we become subject to temptation in that
area. ("He that has suffered in the flesh has
ceased from sin." I Pt 4:1).
Eventually, we will come to the place where all
sense of earth-based identity is drained out of
us, sin has no more avenue to us, and the wineskin
of our mortality has no alternative but to be
swallowed up of life. So will we attain to the
resurrection as Paul longed for (II Cor. 5:4;
Phil. 3:11).
This is the climax goal of
purified identity. The key is enduring the
conflict through abiding in the Presence of
God. All of this is the meaning behind
"putting off the old man and putting on the
new." It's a matter of putting off awareness
to old identities, replacing them with the
singular awareness of identity in the Son of God.
It is also the meaning of "losing your life
for Christ's sake." It's a matter of losing
sensitivity to and awareness of every conceivable
identity outside identity in Jesus Christ.
Finally, this is the entire
meaning of "holiness." Holiness (or "sanctification")
means "separation" or "setting apart.”
Separation from what? From all awareness of
earth-based identity. Unto what? Unto identity in
Christ.