When Your Work Begins to Define You

So much of the Christian life is about the identity you are resting in. It is easy for our identities to become what we are doing. Sometimes, identities can be found in family, career, profession, hobby or achievement. These extra-biblical identities have two ingredients: (1) we work at building or preserving something, and (2) we are known by that identity – the product of our achievement.

Yet, the identity that we work hard at – and take pride in - can compete with a call to rest in God’s identity. If we are not knowing Him and drawing closer to Him, then what is the point?
Philippians 1:21 helps re-set our desires: 

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

When that is the main point and motive of our identities, then it changes the questions we ask:

What is actually driving me right now? Am I doing this for Christ, or am I leaning on achievement, approval, and success? 

Those diagnostic questions expose motives that can hide under spiritual language and good intentions. Prideful intensions eventually show themselves through anxiety, fear, comparison, and a constant need to prove yourself. It is seen in the subtle fear that you are only as valuable as your performance.

When our identity starts to shift, it also changes how we think about maturing in Christ. Christian maturity is not something we find by staring harder at ourselves or by trying to grind our way into holiness. Each week exposes how unfinished we are, beginning with the moment that we walk out of the church on Sunday afternoon.

Here is how we see it:
When our prayer life becomes rushed because we need to go somewhere and/or do something other than pray.
When our Bible reading turns into content instead of communion and satisfaction in Christ.
When we start wanting to be seen as sharp, ahead, wise, smart, or just “on top of it.” 
When we treat faithfulness like productivity or just another task list.
When we focus on outward personal discipline instead of closeness to Jesus. 

Those moments show us something about ourselves. They show us that sometimes we try to mature in Christ by sheer effort, rather than by resting in the grace afforded by Christ.

That is why the gospel matters so much. In Christ, you are complete in Him. In God’s eyes, you are blessed in the Beloved. That does not excuse sin. It does not make growth optional. It means your standing with God is not hanging on your performance. You are covered and clothed in what is not yours. You are holy by merely being clothed with him and accepted because you are in him. 

When you rest in this identity, this makes real growth possible. You can repent without panicking. You can pursue obedience without trying to earn a place that you already have.

You belong to Jesus. You are His because the Father sent the Son. You are His because He purchased you by His blood. You are His because you have been set apart for Him. You are His because you bear His name.

Sanctification and discipleship are not sprinting events in the track meet of your life. They are a daily surrender. Let your work serve your worship, not replace it. Let Christ be your identity before anything you do.