IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST

The story has been told of a girl who was the daughter of one of the royal families of Europe, but had a big, bulbous nose that in her eyes destroyed her beauty and resulted in her seeing herself as an ugly person. Finally her family hired a famous plastic surgeon to change the contour of the girl’s nose. He did his work, and there came the moment when they took the bandages off and the girl could see the results. The doctor saw that the operation had been a total success. All the ugly contours were gone. Her nose was different. When the incisions healed and the redness disappeared, she would be a beautiful girl. He held up a mirror for the girl to see, but so deeply embedded was the girl’s image of herself that when she saw herself in the mirror, she couldn’t see any change. She broke into tears and cried out, “Oh, I knew it wouldn’t work!”

It took six months before the girl would accept the fact that she was indeed an attractive person, and it wasn’t until she had accepted this fact that her self-image and behavior began to change accordingly. So it is with those who are “in Christ.” We must accept our new identity before we will change.706

When the final second had ticked away, and the thrilling football game had ended, an exhausted fan in the bleachers turned to his friend and exclaimed, “Boy, we really played well today!” The fact was that he hadn’t played at all. He wasn’t wearing the pads. He wasn’t on the field. Yet he identified himself with the eleven men on the team.

So should it be for believers. Christ was the One who died on the cross, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again. Yet we are identified with him.707

Do you remember Clark Kent, that mild-mannered newspaper reporter, of whom no one ever expected anything out of the ordinary? But whenever there was a sudden demand for action far beyond the ability of mortal men, Clark stepped into a closet, stripped off his conservative business suit, and emerged complete with bulging muscles and spectacular costume as—Superman! Superman, the one who could do what otherwise could not be done.

That is exactly what the Word of God is teaching us, although perhaps you have not seen it in those terms before. As we who are believers step into our identity in Christ—who we are, to whom we belong, and who is within us—we will find love, motivation, and power available so that we are able to do what otherwise we could not do.708