Identity Crisis

The apostle Paul relates a prayer for the people of God in Ephesians chapter 1, saying that he prays:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe...  We have a new identity in Jesus Christ, recognizing that in Him we are new creations - the old has come, the new has come, and we can open our eyes to the truth of who God is, the relationship He wants to have with us, and the truth about who we are, as redeemed, blood-bought children of God, brought into fellowship with the Father through Christ.  In Colossians chapter 1, Paul writes: 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight...

A new report from the Pew Center on the States says that one of every eight voter registrations in the United States is either invalid or inaccurate.   That represents some 24 million records.   And, there are voters registered in multiple states, approximately 1.8 million dead people are still listed as active voters, and one in four people eligible to vote — some 51 million people — are not registered at all.

This makes the case for stronger voter identification and registration laws, and can serve to encourage us as believers in Christ who want to impact the culture to get involved by registering to vote and casting a ballot, representing a prayerful, informed choice.

But, I think there is also a lesson we can learn from this massive number of inaccurate records - I believe that, as Christians, we have inaccurate information about our identity.   We have been called children of God, purchased by the blood of Jesus, but rather than act like people belonging to God, we operate as if we belong to this world.   We have been set free from the power of sin, but we so often allow ourselves to be in bondage to habits and activities that keep us from walking in God's best.   And, while the Bible tells us we have been forgiven for our past sins, we allow the guilt and shame of our past to cloud our hope for the future.   So, we need to feed accurate information to be processed in our minds, and since our true identity is found in Christ, we can discover who were are in Him by reading, studying, and meditating on God's Word.