Identity

               Who are you?
            Before I was married, I used the Title "Ms." Instead of "Miss" with my last name, of Tetro.  I didn't want to have people know whether I was married or not, it was a security thing.  I was proud of where I came from and wanted them to know who I was, and who I was related to - I'm proud of my parents.
            After, I married I never used the title of "Ms." again! I proudly "took" my husband's name twenty-eight years ago as well as the title of "Mrs.". I still use the title today, even though it's been six and a half years since he has gone home to the LORD. I would no more drop the title than I would drop my last name.
            When we married, I became a new person - I was no longer single. I went from being alone to being one with my husband. Strange math our LORD has when He speaks of the two becoming one.
            This is so true of our relationship with our LORD. We are told that when we are His we are a new creation - We read in 1 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone; the new is here!
            With the shedding of the old and the putting on of the new we also take a new name, that of Christian. As we take the name of Christian, we become "little Christs" followers of Christ. We strive to follow Him all the days of our lives. We live for Him, become one with Him. He lives in us. We listen to Jesus' words in John 14:15, If you love me, keep my commands. This isn't an earthly command made for proof of love with a chance of the loved one turning away, but a heavenly command with a promise and with a show of love.
            When we were brought into the family of God, we are indeed new in Christ and even though He hasn't been on the Earth for over two-thousand years we still use the title of Christian. We still strive to live to the example He set for us. We are still one with Him.
            We truly have an awesome God who loves us and has given us a unique identity that changed who we were before the Son set us free through His sacrificial death and resurrection.
 
© vjhelmling