Identity theft – beware!

   Image by Salvatore Vuono, www.freedigitalphotos.net 

We have possibly all received an email or two which have seemed suspicious. Or even clicked on something and a warning has come up from protection software that the message could either have a virus or be seeking to scam personal details.

Means of protecting identity even in the public domain have significantly increased. Retina scans, finger print recognition and sophisticated ID cards are no longer just reserved for the world of Mission Impossible or other Hollywood offerings.

Banks and other organisations regularly remind us to guard our identity and beware of potential identity theft!

Yet how often in our lives in terms of who we are, do we allow our identity to be “stolen”?

• Bound down by what others have said?
• Circumstances dictating how we view ourselves?
• Reacting to this, that and everything?
• Fear getting a grip due to things we see in the news or come our way?

In ICL at present, we are looking at the life of Jesus from early chapters of the Gospel of Luke –  how he was clear about his identity and then how he lived this out. Yet also we are considering what we can learn from this (you might want to check out the talks in the Media section).

God came and stepped into humanity – Christ’s experience as a human being was real and no illusion. At his baptism, he heard these words, “You are my son, whom I love, in you I am well pleased”. Identity, acceptance, affirmation of truth of who he was (and is!) All kinds of things were thrown at Christ to try and cause him to step away from who he was, from obeying his Father in heaven and carrying out the purpose he came for. This included offers of easier short-cuts in life, of power, fame, adoration (read the Luke 4 account of Jesus in the desert – it is all in there!). There was the temptation to have a crown of life but avoid the cross.

Jesus kept true to who he was. One New Testament writer puts it this way of Jesus’ giving up his life, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross…”  He came through the other side of death too and still calls people to follow Him. Such calling of people was not just in the pages of the Gospel accounts. Have we responded?

Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, what shapes your identity? Where do you get your value from?

If we say we are Christians, that is “in Christ”, is this shaping our sense of who we are?

Questions to reflect on, to help us avoid identity theft!