Christian Dysphoria

I have an identity problem. Regarding my identity, as a believer, God's Word says that I am His child. Christ's atonement gives me a a new identity as an adopted son of God. The power of sin over my life has been destroyed by Jesus' finished work on the cross. The problem is that most days I have a hard time believing this--because I just don't feel like a child of God. I continue to sin; I don't see the overcoming life that I want to have, and feel that I should have.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

The Apostle Paul at his Writing Desk by Rembrandt

Recently the news has been filled with people that are confused over their identities. Rather than embracing what we feel we are, we should embrace what we really are; what God has created us to be. I was born into sin, but I was born again into righteousness through Jesus' blood shed on the cross. As a disciple of Jesus, born of the Spirit, I have a new identity even if some days it doesn't feel like it. Rather than embracing the sinful nature, I am told in the Word to cast off my sin and to run with reckless abandon towards Jesus. 

We need to embrace who we really are. As a Christian, I need to have my identity transformed by the Gospel; to daily live reckoning myself dead to sin and alive to Christ.