IDENTITY in God

In our hyper-connected world, we've mastered the art of feeling close to people we'll never truly know—celebrities, influencers, even AI chatbots. We know their pets' names, follow their daily lives, and feel genuine emotion when they experience milestones. Yet this phenomenon of 'parasocial relationships' reveals something profound about our spiritual lives: we can know about God without actually knowing God intimately. Ephesians 4:1-6 calls us beyond mere proximity to true intimacy, urging us to live worthy of our calling not through performance, but through embracing who we already are in Christ. The passage reveals that our identity flows from being 'bond servants'—not prisoners of obligation, but people who have found true freedom by being tethered to Jesus. When we're secure in being chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed, raised, and seated with Christ, we stop grasping for significance and start living from it. The transformative invitation here is to move from trying harder to trying softer—to stop manufacturing worth and start receiving it. This journey from false identities rooted in what we do, what others think, or what we've experienced, to our true identity as beloved children of God, becomes the foundation for genuine unity in the body of Christ. When we know who we are, we can be humble, gentle, and patient with others because we're no longer defending a fragile sense of self. The Vision for 2026 isn't about doing more for God but becoming who we already are in Him—a shift that could transform our workplaces, neighborhoods, marriages, and city itself.