Colossians 3:9-10 (NKJV) Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
Once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, our old man is dead and crucified with Christ, but we will continue to live in the old man, its identity and lifestyle until we renew our minds with the Word of God regarding who we are in Christ.
Our old identity thrives on the praises and the approval of people. We draw strength, security, approval and esteem from people based on our achievements, or the number of “likes” on our social media posts. Our identity is based on the measure of our worth before people, especially those we seek approval from, such as our bosses, our peers, our parents or anybody we know, depending on what stages of our lives we are at. We are proud that we are doing better than our siblings, neighbours and colleagues. Unfortunately, everything that can be achieved based on our own strength can also be overtaken by someone else because they are temporal.
We live in a world that operates on Phileo love which is a conditional love. Therefore, not everyone will praise and affirm you, or be kind to you when you are down and out in life, and it is very likely that we will lose the respect of others once we have lost our positions of significance in their eyes, such as when we were made redundant, transferred to a less significant role, or retired. As for those who identify with their looks and physiques, once they start to get old or out of shape, they will feel a sense of insecurity and rejection that leads to self-doubt and lack of confidence. When those things that caused us to be admired are stripped away from us, we will feel worthless, insecure and vulnerable, and have an identity crisis.
All of us will go through transitions in our lifetime, and very often, they are contributing factors to an identity crisis, such as being a trailing spouse, entering a new role or being in between jobs. If we can’t handle these transitions well, we may end up having to deal with anger, wrath, dissatisfaction, and disillusionment in life, which will spill over to our relationships with our spouse, family members and close friends, because when we are unhappy with the current state of our being, our emotions will be all over the place.
What can we do to overcome all these challenges and pick ourselves up when we are down? We need to identify ourselves with our new identity. Jesus came to give us the right identity and self-worth. We will begin to enjoy the abundant life meant for us when we have the right identity in Christ.
Sermon Series: A New Identity after His Resurrection
正确的身份
歌罗西书3:9-10 不要彼此说谎，因为你们已经脱去旧人和旧人的行为，穿上了新人，这新人在知识上渐渐更新，正如造他主的形像。
一旦我们接受耶稣为我们的主和救主，我们的旧人就死了，与基督同钉十字架，但我们将继续活在旧人里，活在旧人的身份和生活方式中，直到我们用神的话语更新我们的思想，认识到我们在基督里的身份。
我们的旧身份在人们的赞扬和认可中茁壮成长。我们从别人那里获得力量、安全感、认可和尊重，这些都是基于我们的成就，或者我们社交媒体帖子上的“赞”数。我们的身份是建立在衡量我们在别人面前的价值的基础上的，尤其是那些我们寻求认可的人，比如我们的老板、同事、父母或任何我们认识的人，这取决于我们所处的生活阶段。我们感到自豪的是，我们比我们的兄弟姐妹、邻居和同事做得更好。不幸的是，我们凭自己的力量所能取得的一切也可能被别人超越，因为它们是暂时的。
我们生活在一个以菲利奥之爱为基础的世界，这是一种有条件的爱。因此，不是每个人都会在你生活潦倒的时候称赞你、肯定你、善待你，一旦我们在别人眼中失去了重要的位置，比如被裁员、调到不那么重要的职位、退休，我们就很有可能失去别人的尊重。对于那些对自己的外表和身材感到满意的人来说，一旦他们开始变老或身材走样，他们就会感到不安全感和被排斥感，从而导致自我怀疑和缺乏自信。当那些使我们受到钦佩的东西被剥夺时，我们会感到毫无价值，没有安全感和脆弱，并产生身份危机。
我们所有人在一生中都会经历一些转变，而这些转变往往是导致身份危机的因素，比如成为随迁配偶、进入一个新角色或在两份工作之间徘徊。如果我们不能很好地处理这些转变，我们可能最终不得不处理生活中的愤怒、激怒、不满和幻灭，这将蔓延到我们与配偶、家庭成员和亲密朋友的关系中，因为当我们对自己目前的状态不满意时，我们的情绪会到处都是。
我们能做些什么来克服所有这些挑战，在我们沮丧的时候振作起来呢?我们需要认同我们的新身份。耶稣来是为了给我们正确的身份和自我价值。当我们在基督里有正确的身份时，我们就会开始享受丰盛的生命。
讲章系列: 祂复活后给你的新身份
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