Who are you? It’s one of the most fundamental questions we could ask, and simultaneously one of the most difficult to answer…

Why? Because there are layers to it. Sure, in one sense, I could say I am a pastor, and that would be true. I could also say that I’m a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, a son, and a wicked awesome drummer (okay, maybe not that last part). But what of all those things I listed is most true about me? When you boil it all down, who am I, really? Many of us scratch our heads…

Peter’s interaction with Jesus in John 1 gives us insight here.

“He (Andrew) brought him (Peter) to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).” – John 1:42

Upon meeting Simon son of John, the very first thing Jesus does is change his name from Simon to Peter. And from that point on, he was Peter. Why? Because Jesus said so.

Consider for a moment- Peter had done nothing to impress Jesus. You can’t argue that Peter somehow earned the name that Jesus gave him. Jesus “looked at him”, knowing full well all Peter’s weaknesses (as well as his future failures), and in that moment, Jesus gives him a new name. And in doing so, He gives him a new identity.

What is the lesson for you and I?

This is the same exact pattern we see in the lives of Abraham, Paul, and many others in Scripture. God, in His grace, bestows a new identity on His people, apart from their own working. And guess what? It is the same way with you and I. In Christ, God gives us a new name… a new identity! Not because we have earned it, but because of His grace. And the Christian life is learning to live out of who we already are, by His grace.

So here’s the question: What’s the identity that God has given you? Join us this Sunday and Monday as we continue to explore the answer from Ephesians 1-2.

In Him,