‘Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household’ (v19) Ephesians. 2:19–22
Questions of identity offer us little hope of validation or encouragement. This Scripture verse is more about where I find myself, an issue of location rather than status.
Society too often demands I define myself by status, my job title, for instance, and itself seeks to define me within predetermined sociological constraints. The Bible defines us according to our relationship with God.
Either we are within God’s kingdom, or outside it. Locations are easier to establish than identities.
So I have the privilege of choosing to enter into a relationship with God and move from a finite to an infinite geography. Therefore, every decision I take will have eternal consequences.
I remember as a youth, my first thought was always about my own safety. I lied about and manipulated my circumstances to avoid my wrongdoing being discovered.
Jesus knew everything about me before He offered me residence within His ‘household’. Now, I had less to worry about my status. Being forever guaranteed in Christ than in my willingness to embrace and live God’s way means owning my wrongdoing and seeking to live by God’s kingdom patterns for all of life.
RELATED SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER: Gen. 3:8–11; Jonah 1:1–12; Gal. 6:1–10; Eph. 2:1–18.
AN ACTION TO TAKE: Stop worrying about who you are, and start deciding where you are and where you want to get to?
A PRAYER TO MAKE: ‘Lord, let me live within the household of faith and live a kingdom life as a citizen of heaven. Amen.’
Photo by Chichi Onyekanne on Unsplash
