Who We Are

We have been brought into fellowship with our Heavenly Father, and we have a new nature in Christ.
2nd Peter 1 states:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

He has brought us out of darkness into the light of Christ.  We have been delivered from the power of the enemy and brought into the love of Jesus.  He is the One who determines our identity and tells us in His Word who we really are.  So, we can continue to rely on Him and resist that corruption of the world by standing strong against temptation, according to His great power.  Because we know Him, we can send a powerful message to the world around us about who Jesus is and who we are in Him.

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God is so merciful toward us, and He sent His Son so that we, by believing on Him, can be recipients
of His newness of life and the new identity He has provided. 1st Peter 2 says:
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

We have been hearing of people who have identified essentially as someone other than who they really are.  There are men identifying as women and women who identify as men.  People will identify as animals, or even a different age.  Maybe even a different race.  Unfortunately, people are rejecting the physical nature of who God, the Creator, has made them to be.

And, in a spiritual sense, there is the tendency to identify in a manner that is inconsistent with the Scripture - we have to be careful to refer to ourselves in the way that God regards us.

Actor Letitia Wright, in an awards ceremony for BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards around the start of this year, declared in her acceptance speech for the "Rising Star" Award, according to Faithwire:

I can’t get up here without thanking God,” Wright boldly declared as she took to the stage. The actress went on to discuss her previous battle with depression, which struck at a time when her acting career repeatedly stalled. However, despite the heartache, and amid this excruciating period of failure, Wright revealed that it was her unwavering faith in Jesus that ultimately sustained her.

She is known for her role as Shuri in the blockbuster film, Black Panther. She went on to say: "A few years ago I saw myself in a deep state of depression and I literally wanted to quit acting,” adding, “The only thing that pulled me out of it was God, my belief, my faith and my family, and an email from Bafta asking me to become part of the Bafta breakthrough Brits.”

The article includes more positive words from Letitia:

“I want to encourage young people. You don’t have to be young, you can be any age, but I want to encourage you – anyone going through a hard time… God made you and you’re important,” the actress declared. “There might be some of you here who might be going through a hard time. I just want to encourage you and God loves you. Just let your light shine.”

Interestingly enough, with her apparent boldness to declare her faith, she has experienced that element of her life being left out of coverage of her career - she took note of it recently, according to  a CBN.com article:

Wright tweeted that it was “super cute when journalists/interviewers for magazines leave out the massive part where I give God the glory for the success/ achievements in my life.”

“I still love you,” she added, “and God will still be praised.”

The article also points out that:

Speaking to talk show “This Morning,” the actress talked about how she only landed the “Black Panther” role after surrendering her entire life to God.

It goes on to quote Wright:

“I needed to take a break from acting because I really idolized it. So I came off from it and I went on a journey to discover my relationship with God, and I became a Christian,” Wright said in the interview aired in February last year.

So, here she is, a bold, hopefully growing Christian who is tweaking journalists for leaving out the faith element of her life in their coverage.

We have to be careful not to compartmentalize our faith. The Christian faith is not some sort of "add-on" or something we activate when we get in a tight spot.  No, we can be convinced of the sufficiency of Scripture and seek to apply God's principles to every area of our lives.  What we have to do is rely on God's wisdom and ask Him to guide us.

Also, in this age in which it seems so many are not content in who they are or who God has made them, we can find the reliability of our identity in Christ.  Because of Him, not of ourselves, we are children of God, we belong to God, and we can allow Him to determine who we are - not the world, not other people, not our own misguided ideas.  We can rely on Him.

At a low point of her life, Letitia Wright looked up.  Sometimes we may have to come, as it's been said, to the end of ourselves.  And, that is just where God wants us.  Remember, as Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians, when we are weak, He is strong.  We can lay down our own ideas and self-reliance and appropriate what He has provided.