A couple months ago I had a conversation with a friend about his lifelong struggles with depression and addiction. In and out of jail as a teenager, in and out of rehab facilities as an adult, all while dealing with the hurt caused by family circumstances and mistakes that can’t be erased. Although he’s at a point in his life now where he is ready to begin the climb from rock bottom, the reality is that the process of shattering your life is a lot easier than the process of picking up the pieces. And when you’re at the very beginning or even in the middle of this process, the finish line can seem impossible to reach. At some point in our conversation, he said, “I’m an addict and will always be an addict. That’s just who I am, and this will be a battle I fight for my entire life”. I knew this wasn’t just an excuse; this was something he truly believed. “Addict” had become his primary identity.
Maybe you can relate to every part of my friend’s battle with addiction and depression, or maybe these two battles are completely foreign to you. But I believe we can all relate to his struggle, though the manifestation of our sins and temptations can look completely different. My version of this internal struggle is manifested into anxiety, worry, a need for control, perfectionism, and hoping for the best, but always expecting the worst. In our society, anxiety is much more accepted than having an addiction problem. But both of these are expressions of a heart issue and are equally detrimental to our spirit.
As Christians, we know that sin is wrong and would never say that we “intend” to sin on a daily basis, yet we find ourselves sinning time and time again. The prevalence and seeming dominance of sin in our lives can lead to the false conclusion that our fundamental identity is “sinner”, just as my friends constant fight against addiction has led him to believe his prominent identity is “addict”.
It seems logical…doesn’t it? I am an addict, therefore I’ll always be addicted. I am a sinner, therefore I will always sin.
I was saved at 20 years old, and when I entered into the church, I realized that this was a common theme among other Christians. People have adopted into the identity of being “just a sinner saved by grace”, but this identity is false. Our story doesn’t end as a sinner being saved; that’s only the beginning.
In Romans 6, Paul talks about how those who claim to know Christ have died to sin, and the body ruled by sin has been done away with. We have been given a new life. A new start. A second chance. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are new creations; the old is gone. Therefore, being a sinner saved by grace is only half of the story. The whole story is that I WAS a sinner, but I have been saved by grace and am now made righteous by the power of God and am no longer defined by my sin. Christ now dwells within me. But if we’ve been made a completely new creation, why do we still find ourselves struggling with sin?
God did not defeat sin just so we would be reconciled to Him, but that we would be transformed because of our reconciliation. And becoming like Christ does not happen in a moment, but instead is a slow progression. Therefore, fighting sin is a part of life- it is the lifelong battle between flesh and spirit, which oppose one another. The key difference is that we are not fighting for victory, we are fighting from victory.
In Romans 6:12-13, Paul says “do not let sin reign”… “do not offer any part of yourself to sin”, implying that we have the ability to choose sin’s place in our lives. Sin no longer has complete control over us, but we are susceptible to its demands when we lose sight of Christ within us. A Christian who finds him or herself sinning is not once again under sin’s dominion, rather they are taking their eyes off of Jesus and instead focusing on sin and its empty promises. So how do we keep our eyes fixed on Christ within us?
In John 15:4, Jesus gives us the instruction to “abide” in Him. He compares our relationship with him to a vine and its branches. Cut off from the vine, the branches cannot produce fruit. The power of production is not in the branch just as the power to live a “Christian” life is not in us. So he tells us to abide.
Abide:
to remain as one. to endure. to wait. to survive. to be present. to persevere.
to rest and rely on Him.
The more deeply aware of our identity in Him and His presence and power within us, the more naturally we’ll produce a life that reflects the life of Jesus. And within this process of becoming more and more like Christ, we have the opportunity to relate to a broken world. When we’re real and honest about our imperfections, we allow God’s grace to be visible in our lives. The light of Jesus shines most clearly through our broken places.
The friend I told you about is not a Christian, but I believe his fundamental identity goes far beyond an addict. He’s a brother, a son, a friend, a comedian, a fighter, a hard worker, a shoulder to lean on, and so much more. His brokenness does not define him. And similarly, our glory as Christians is not found in what we do or don’t do, but who we are.
In that moment, I knew his true identity. But my friend was fine settling with “addict”. I think satan wants us to believe that we’re nothing more than how our sins define us. But do not allow him to steal away your identity. Don’t settle for less than how God sees you.
The Walking In Between 