I am writing this to start a conversation. A conversation between you and I. A conversation between you and the people in your life. A conversation to have with believers and non-believers. A conversation between your kids and your parents. I just want us to talk. To be real with each other and know that grace and mercy are bountiful in the lives of those who know Christ. Let us root ourselves in Christ for this conversation and know that the flesh is strong, but the Spirit is mighty. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives within us. Let us begin.

 

This morning as I was drinking my coffee I decided to watch the news. Since I decided to skip the gym today why not? Pop news was what segment of the news was on at the time. It started out with a funny video that had gone viral. Next was some snippet about a famous actor who was in the Avenger movie and now trying his luck on Broadway. Then comes a story that really caught my attention. A famous actress, I think, won some award and in her award speech she thanked her fiancé. This was the first mention of her being engaged as the crowd gasped at the mention of it. Then she began to talk about why she wore the clothes she had on. She was wearing what looked like suit that belonged her great uncle that was six and a half foot tall and three hundred pounds. It was huge on her! But that is not what grabbed my attention. What caught my ear was why she said she was wearing it. She said that she wears the pants in her relationship that is why she dressed the way she did. Well then.

 

This may not surprise you because hey she is just some actress that is trying to gain the popularity of women. Well it bothered me. Her statement may seem like something small to you, but it hit home in a particular area that we all struggle with, our identity. Let’s go back to the garden of Eden. We have man created in the image of God. Everything is perfect. Man walks with God in the garden and they are in unison. But then. We come to chapter three where the serpent is tempting Eve and he says something to Eve that is interesting.

 

What does Eve do?

 

The serpent used this tactic to attack her identity. If you eat of this fruit your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Wow! If you eat this fruit… What is our fruit? This is a question that’s hard to answer. What are we eating that’s causing our identity to change? You see Satan uses the same tactics now that you used in the beginning. He gets us doubting our identify in Christ. If we go back to beginning of chapter 3 we see the question that he still ask us today

 

Did God really say? Did God really say that we should abstain from sex before marriage? Did God really say that I have to be a part of the Church to be a follower of Him? Did God really say that as a husband I need to lead my family? Did God really say as a wife I must be submissive to my husband? Did God really say ________? You see where I’m going with this.We can all fill in the blank with the lies Satan has attacked us with.

 

So  why are you telling us this? We must be aware. We must be aware of the  tactic that Satan uses on us every day. We must be open and honest with our brothers and sisters in Christ. You see God  set up paths that lead us towards Him. In short they are prayer, the Bible, and the Church. These are the paths that we receive God’s command. Through these three things we are reminded what God really did say, that our identity is in Him. Without these we begin to fall weak and question “Did God really say?” becomes stronger and louder in our lives. May I encourage you to have this conversation with others. What is your identity in? May we encourage each other to press on towards Christ.

 

With much love, grace, and mercy