Articles
Mistaken Identity
It is becoming increasingly popular in our troubled society for individuals to self-identify as someone other than who — or what — they actually are. A former Olympic decathlon male athlete now wears women's clothing and wants to be called by the name 'Caitlyn' and acknowledged as a woman; a young man in Missouri claims he now wants to self-identify as a female, and school authorities kowtow to his claim and cause an uproar when he is allowed to use the bathrooms designated for the girls; a young girl in the UK who, at five years old, declared she was a boy was allowed and then encouraged by her parents to dress as a boy and they now identify her [and want everyone else to acknowledge her] as 'him.'
Furthermore, we have an entire class of people now who choose to identify themselves by nothing other than their 'sexual orientation.' Many surveys nowadays include a question as to one's sexual orientation, with some at least offering an option to not be identified one way or the other. Many go to great lengths to make sure everyone acknowledges and accepts their sexual orientation, whether they like it or not. But in this great push to legitimize the popular concept that 'you are who/what you want to be,' we are overlooking and plainly ignoring a more important factor: how God identifies us.
Why is it that man often purposefully chooses to self-identify by some designation that is nothing more than acknowledgment of sinful behavior? Think about it: How many times are men identified by negative behavior or by a way of life that was once acknowledged by society as aberrant, perversion, or even sinful? A man may be known as a thief, a liar, a cheater, a murderer, and — whether or not you like the association — a homosexual, a child molester, or a sexual predator; all of these designations were once commonly used with negative connotations, but some not so much anymore.
Whether the world acknowledges sexual perversions as sin or not, disciples of Jesus Christ must not be persuaded by the world's habits and re-defining of terms to cease identifying sin as sin. While the world may call these perversions of the Divinely-intended place of sexual desire 'natural' and on equal standing of the way God intended, sin is still sin, and no matter how strongly we may want to remove the negative connotation of certain sinful behaviors, God's word does not change.
The problem in this recent push to legitimize and normalize certain aberrant behaviors is that we are ignoring and marginalizing the terms God has used to identify these behaviors and those who are guilty of practicing these things. Maybe we should revisit God's word to refresh our memories of how God identifies us, and not be so quick to self-identify in terms He has not used for us. After all, our Creator knows who and what we are better than we.
Sinners. While society is trying hard to normalize all kinds of deviant behavior, God's word still stands — it does not change. While men may be trying to self-identify in ways that erase any negative perception, God's word still reminds us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Society cannot honestly claim any man is 'good enough' to please God or attain to the eternal reward, for “they are all under sin” (Rom. 3:9). No matter how 'good' we think we are, the truth is as the wise writer noted long ago: “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin” (Eccl. 7:20).
And denying God exists will not change reality, either. Trying to eliminate God from the picture is nothing new, though; men long ago suppressed “the truth in unrighteousness… did not glorify Him as God… Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man… God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator… even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful” (Rom. 1:18-27). Yes, once God is eliminated, nature is held in higher esteem than the One who created it, and it is not long before sexual desires — however those desires may be defined, and to whomever or whatever those desires are directed — become the highest goal. As some are now saying, "Love is love." [Meaning man can love whomever or whatever he wishes.]
A man can call himself a woman, one might self-identify as a homosexual or even as one with 'natural' desires for children, but God still calls such men and women sinners. Since “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), and since “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10), we should be more interested in how God identifies us and how we can change that identity.
Saved. As a contrast to being identified as sinners, we have the possibility of being identified — by God — as ones who are now saved. I must note that while many men self-identify as ones who are saved, just like with self-identifying as a female when one's chromosomes say you are male, saying we are saved doesn't change reality. Unless and until God identifies us as saved, then we are still sinners, and all the protestations in the world will not change our status.
But we should be eternally thankful we even have this opportunity to change that status! By God's grace, “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10). Yes, we who were once identified as the enemies of God can “be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). What love, indeed! We didn't deserve such an opportunity, but “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It is when we respond positively to His act of love by believing and obeying (Mark 16:16; Heb. 5:9) that our status changes; that is when God changes our identity!
Please don't fool yourself into thinking that you have the right to self-identify as one who is saved when you have not followed the inspired word of God and done the things that bring about that change in identity. Simply making the claim does not make it so!
If you were told someone was coming over to your house to pick up a large sum of money to be deposited in your bank account, you would expect the one who came to your door would show some sort of identification that would prove they are who they claimed to be. In the same sense, entrance into heaven will demand of us the proof — according to God's word — that we are who we claim to be. Since Christ will judge us [by His word, John 12:47, 48], we won't be fooling anyone into thinking we are someone we are not. “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). There will be no case of mistaken identity on Judgment Day.
The fact is, God knows who and what you really are. The question is, Do you know who Jesus is, and what will you do when you come to see who He is?
—— Steven Harper
