10 Empowering Bible Verses About Identity in Christ
Our daughter, Bekah, asks for a mother-daughter date, and I take her to the lake on a cloudless afternoon. I’ve been feeling less than in pretty much every area of my life lately, and I slip my Bible into our bag with hopes for a few quiet moments to soak in some Bible verses about identity in Christ.
Perhaps you need this, too.
Maybe you’ve been feeling wounded by the world, and you need God to remind you of your unchanging identity in Christ.
Today, I invite you to join us at the lake. I’ll share my heartwarming conversation with Bekah, and then we will dig into 10 empowering Bible verses about identity in Christ.
Empowering Bible Verses About Identity in Christ
Muddy water rolls onto the rocky shore like waves of hope, and I feel the cares slip away with the current as Bekah and I sit by the water. I count my blessings with the rhythm of the surf:
This perfect day with cerulean skies and just the right placement of high cirrus clouds.
Rolling green hills that speak of life and abundance.
Sailboats defying the world’s constant prodding to hurry.
A date with a six-year-old.
The fact that she begged me to bring her to this place with a Bible.
It’s almost too much to believe this is my child and my life.
I watch her as she watches the waves beside me. She’s past the age of hurling rocks and sticks for entertainment. Today she simply wants to watch the boats drift by.
I pray for words that might capture this moment and speak truth into the deepest recesses of her being. I want to make the most of the moment, make it teachable, and be intentional.
Her delicate hair dances in the wind, and she looks right through me with penetrating eyes. She wants to know what I’m thinking about. I tell her I was watching her watch the waves, and I think she’s beautiful. I tell her I’m so grateful for this time together.
The Truth You Need to Hear When You Start Feeling Less Than
That’s when I remember. I remember Ann Voskamp’s words from this morning:
“The world will say they will love you if you’re beautiful —but the truth is you’re beautiful because you are loved. God Loves YOU. He who is Love loves you unconditionally. Living as one truly loved and cherished by God is the cross-beam that supports an abundant life in Christ. Belovedness is the center of being, the only real identity, God’s only name for you, the only identity He gives you. And you won’t ever feel like you belong anywhere until you choose to listen to your heart beating out that you do—unconditionally, irrevocably.” ~Ann Voskamp
My daughter is beautiful because she is loved.
She’ll face bullies in the days to come.
Boys will promise to love her if she’s beautiful.
She’ll endure days of feeling less than.
How can I teach her that it’s not the love of boys or the admiration that comes from other women that makes a woman beautiful? A woman is beautiful because she’s loved by God.
Cling to This Truth When You Start Feeling Less Than
I want her to know who she is without hesitation.
She’s not simply pretty or smart or funny. She’s not defined by her social status, her hobbies, or her aspirations. Before all of these things, she is first beloved.
Belovedness is the center of her being, her only real identity, and God’s name for her.
How can I teach her this?
Bible Verses About Identity in Christ
I open the Bible on my lap to Romans, and I tell her: “God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is how we know for sure that we are loved: God showed us his love when he sent his Son to die for us. This is the ultimate act of love.”
This is how we know for sure that we are loved: God showed us his love when he sent his Son to die for us. This is the ultimate act of love. #loved #Godslove #identity Share on XI think of the labels with which I’ve defined myself: athlete, teacher, backpacker, wife, mother. I remember when the injury happened, and I could no longer call myself an athlete.
Six years ago, I walked away from my career to pursue full-time parenting, and I could no longer call myself a teacher.
I remember the day I realized it had been years since I’d worn the old Kelty backpack into the mountains, and I could no longer call myself a backpacker. What then?
What do we do with all the labels that are eventually stripped away? Who am I if it’s all stripped away? Who am I on the days when I wake up feeling less-than and left out?
Ann’s words ring true: The only identity that never changes is the identity that says I am beloved.
Your Lasting Identity Is Found Here
I tell my girl that the only part of her that can never be stripped away is the love of Christ that is sealed over her life.
No matter where she goes, no matter what she faces, she is still beloved. There’s no need to prove herself to the world or make much of her life for the sake of a simple label. She is free to live and love as one who is fully defined by the love of Christ. She’ll need this for the days when she starts feeling less than.
She crawls onto my lap and listens intently. “Does this make sense?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says, “God loves me, just because I’m his.”
I kiss her damp hair. “Yes, just because you’re his.”
Empowering Bible Verses About Identity in Christ
Later, after returning home, I compile the following list of Bible verses about identity in Christ. I invite you to soak in these truths when your identity feels shaken.
1. Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
God formed you in your mother’s womb. He created you with passion and purposefulness. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
I encourage you to soak in these words and repeat them until you begin to believe them. Hang these verses in a frame on your wall or write them on a note and hang them beside your bathroom mirror.
You will learn how to embrace yourself as you as when you consistently align your heart with what God says about you.
2. John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God demonstrated your value once and for all when he allowed his precious Son to die in your place. You are dear to him, so dear that Jesus would have gone to the cross if you were the only person on earth. Soak in this radical love today.
3. Matthew 10:29-31
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
You are so dear to God that he has numbered the hairs on your head.
He knows you better than you know yourself, and he cares for you deeply. Lean into this truth when you feel less-than.
4. Song of Solomon 4:1
Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful!
God’s love for you can be represented by the love a man has for his wife in a healthy, thriving marriage. As a husband looks at his wife and calls her beautiful, God looks at you and calls you beautiful.
5. Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
This verse states that you were created in the image of God. The next time you doubt your worth or experience critical thoughts about your worth, remind yourself that you were made in the image of the Living God.
6. 1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
God is a good Father. He loves you in the way a good dad loves his children. He believes in you, stands with you, and will never leave you.
7. Isaiah 49:15
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
God can never forget you. As a mother tenderly thinks of her nursing child, the child she sustains, God’s thoughts are always with you.
8. Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
God cherishes you. You are the apple of his eye and his treasured possession. He dearly loves you.
Think of the way you feel about a precious child in your life. God feels this way for you. His heart overflows with love for you.
9. Song of Solomon 2:16
My beloved is mine, and I am his.
If you are a follower of Christ, you belong to him, and he belongs to you in the way a married couple belongs to one another.
Jesus is yours, and you are his. This is the truest part of your identity.
Soak in this and speak it until you believe it.
10. Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God formed you in your mother’s womb with his hands. No part of you is hidden from him.
He also prepared good works for you to complete. Step into these assignments as you trust that God created you exactly as you were meant to be.
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