Your Identity Matters More Than Your Plans

The book that I found myself reading this Christmas was Called to Create by Jordan Raynor. This book is written for Christian entrepreneurs and creatives and it includes testimonies of successful (and unsuccessful) Christians, mostly in the world of business.

Like these entrepreneurs, so many of us have plans in mind for the next year—whether it’s something very specific and planned out, or something still general and vague. Who could blame us? It’s perfectly normal to be excited about a new beginning especially if we find ourselves at the end of an exhausting year. I mean, I still can’t believe that in my lifetime, I lived through a pandemic!

You may also be in the same club as the rest of us excited to reinvent ourselves—ready to be better people in all the sense of the word. The new year is the perfect objective-time-marker-slash-excuse to do something different, even if we could literally make the change any day. I mean, starting a new diet on January 1st shouldn’t be all that different from starting it on December 28th, but it is what it is. Besides, the former is easier to explain to people, I guess.

He is Delighted

But while we’re still in the holiday season, I want to propose that before we dive into the 2022 grind and hustle, we should first look a crucial element in Jesus’ ministry. After all, if we truly want to glorify God in our lives, we can’t just say that we aim for that and go the complete opposite direction. Declaring such vision is contingent upon our frequent investigation and study of the life of the only perfect Man who ever lived: Jesus Christ, the wonderful Son of God.

During His public ministry, we read the story of how His Father presented His precious Son proudly and delightedly:

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)

Today I want to bring attention to the story of His transfiguration. Notice the chronological order of how the Father declares His delight in His Son. It was not after His ministry, but it was in the midst of it. See how this affirmation was not a result of the completion of His Son’s work. Instead, it was simply the truth of the heart of God—He unconditionally delights in His children. That is simply who He is.

Our True Identity

And so it is the same with us. Before we start the new year, and the million things we want to do to be better people, the Lord declares the same thing over us. When we anchor our identity in Christ and put our faith in Him, we share the overflowing joy of God. Can You imagine it? God, who was, and is, and is to come, who holds all the universe, who existed before the beginning of time and creation, sings songs of joy over you! He loved you before you were here, and he loves you even still.

We all want approval. We’re chasing it, perhaps even more ferociously than we would like to admit. We are afraid to disappoint. We are afraid to be found out, to be exposed as frauds. At a time like this at the end of the year, when people post their year-in-review successes and glamorous family photos, we want to look and feel important and beautiful. We want to display ourselves to others—friends and family on social media, our bosses, our neighbors, our exes—to keep a reputation, high regard, or maybe to even impress.

But at the end of it all, you find yourself tired in your soul. It still isn’t enough. That’s because we were not made to please other people. You weren’t designed that way.

At the end of everything, we seek the approval not of the most number of people, but the most important Person. Yes, disappoint your boss, disappoint your family—what’s new? But disappoint Your God? That pain is too much to bear.

But guess what? If you are in Christ, God’s approval of you comes before you even become or do anything. He delights in you as a father delights in his helpless newborn child. God delights in you now, as much as he delights in you when He was making you, and He will enjoy you in your successes and failures all the same. It’s not what you do, it’s just who He is—an incredibly loving Father.

You may be thinking, “Sure, I get what you mean. But how could he delight in me when I keep failing to keep His commandments?” That’s not my main topic here, but I think it’s worth mentioning. If you truly understand the goodness of God, you will stop looking at yourself and your failures. Instead, you will be so engrossed at the wonderful compassionate heart, and truly amazing grace of God. You decide: will you keep looking in the mirror and beating yourself up over your failures, or will you begin to fix your eyes on God and receive His forgiveness? Only one of those will give you freedom.

Work Restfully in 2022

So now as we enter 2022, we can rest our souls as we tire our bodies being at His disposal. Yes, we will inevitably get exhausted — as we should when we give our all (our heart, soul, mind and strength) in the calling God has for us. But in spite of that, if we remember that the foundation of our identity is in Christ, then we can have this soul rest. We will know that whether we fail or succeed, it makes no difference to God. He delights in us—in you—even before you create a timeline of your plans or execute them.

Let’s remember before we dive into 2022 that God already delights in us, even before we start that diet, or develop that new habit, or pursue that new career path. No, do not let that diminish your standards, but let that be the very reason you stop striving, and instead, pursue His calling with joy. Don’t you miss the days when there was no pressure, but you simply enjoyed doing what you loved—what you knew you were called to do at that very moment in your life? Don’t you want to live a life no longer feeling afraid of failure and disappointment?

I’m not saying that if you trust God, you will never fail. But when you see that God already delights in You before and after, and surely even in the midst of, your failures, then you will learn to embrace it. You will see that the point was not that you succeeded in such and such activity, but that God’s heart is to make you more like Jesus, and to build your character to be more loving than ever before. How can you love others in their valleys, when you can’t even see how God loves you in yours?

It is Well

Look, I love you as a sister in Christ. And I don’t wanna be here “manifesting” all the financial success and prosperity for you in 2022, because perhaps, in the eternal wisdom of God, His lot for you may be un-fabulous—losses, failures, disappointments. I just want to be realistic. But there is one thing I know for certain: if you anchor your worth and identity in Christ, then you can say with Horatio Spafford, who was so successful and wealthy, but suddenly, after a tragedy at sea, seemed to have lost everything including all four of his daughters:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul

Regardless of how you feel, or what the circumstances may look like, this truth holds your life, that it is well with your soul. Hope in Him, and He shall see to it.

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