There and Back Again (by Jeff Metzger)

Who are you? When you look in the mirror who is looking back?  Our identity is a big deal. The search for it begins early in life and continues. “Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?” I started answering those questions when I was a teenager. First on the list was my identity. Who am I? We each spend a lifetime answering that question.

Ultimately relationships define our identities. Our most important relationship is our relationship with God. What is my identity in Christ? When I came to faith in Jesus as a teenager, I realized my identity was instantly defined by him. It still is. My relationship with Jesus defines me. He is Lord. He calls the shots. Jesus says I am a disciple. That’s who I am. He calls me to follow him. Jesus is my teacher. My goal is to grow up and be like him. Following Jesus creates my identity as a disciple. I am a disciple who makes disciples that makes disciples. If you follow Jesus, so are you. 

When I began to follow Jesus, even as a teenager, I began to live out my primary self-identity as a disciple maker. I heard Jesus say, “Follow me!” I said, “Yes!”  2 Timothy 2:2 became a behavior guide. Being a disciple who makes disciples that make disciples was my life. I worked hard to live out my identity as a disciple. In my early thirties I experienced a subtle identity shift. I made a shift away from my primary self-identity as disciple maker—and moved toward seeing my primary identity as church leader. This was a subtle move away from my identity in Christ. There’s nothing wrong with being a church leader. I think I’ve been a good one; but, being a church leader, even a good one, is not primarily who Jesus wants me to be. Sadly, you can be a church leader and not be a disciple of Jesus. You can be a church leader and never make a disciple. For too many years, while I did still make disciples, my relationship with my work gave me my identity more than my relationship with Jesus. I was wrong. Several years ago, I began to realize what had happened and determined to return to my first love.  I determined to once again allow Jesus to define me. I repented and began to do the things I did at first. I am his disciple who makes disciples that make disciples. That’s who I am.

Paul wrote more about our identities in Christ in his Ephesian letter than any other New Testament writer. His dispatch reveals much about who we are in Jesus. Twenty-seven times the phrase “in Christ” or its equivalent is used to describe who we are. I found forty-nine metaphors, adjectives, and nouns in Ephesians describing who we are. Paul says I am chosen, called, growing to become mature like Jesus, and able to help others be the same. That’s a disciple! Here’s the identity list I made in my journal a few years ago. You can make your own list.  Let Jesus define you through his word.

To help me maintain my true identity in Jesus I’ve recently began a daily habit of making a discipleship declaration. I invite you to make it with me. I say this out loud: “I am a disciple of Jesus. Today I will follow Jesus, live by faith, and bring someone with me.” It’s amazing what voicing that truth does to lock in my identity in Christ.  Words really do create worlds! Do you know who you are?  As a Christ follower you are a disciple of Jesus! You are growing to be like your teacher. You are helping others do the same. Own it! Declare it! Live it!  Be it!

Jeff Metzger