Identity

In a meeting soon after learning that my position was changing drastically, I made this statement:

"Removing those responsibilities is a removing a part of me...that is a part of my identity."

The organization I worked in had just undergone a leadership change, and as a part of that process, my job changed.

Making that "identity statement" signaled that I had the wrong priorities and was finding my identity through the wrong source.

Let me explain, but before I do, read these scriptures.

You shall have no other gods before you. Exodus 20:3

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1

Martin Luther stated that the call to "have no other gods before you and the call to believe in Jesus alone for our justification are, in essence, the same thing. To say we must have no other gods but God and to say we must not try to achieve our salvation without Christ are one and the same."

In other words, Luther is saying that anything we look to more than we look to Christ for our sense of acceptance, joy, significance, hope, and security is, by definition, our God.

Idols don’t always start as bad things; they can be good things: family, career, romance, achievement, talent, etc., but when we turn to or allow these things to be our identity, they become idols.

In admitting that "removing those responsibilities is a removing a part of me...that is a part of my identity," I was essentially saying I had allowed my job, my position, to become my idol. The worst part of this situation is that my position was at a church, a position of full-time ministry. So, yes, a position in ministry can turn into an idol.

God allowing and walking with me through that time became a turning point, returning me to true joy and identity in Christ.

Understanding and relying on an identity in Christ gives me a different perspective on a job, position, or anything.