Jesus' ID and Ours
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God…” -Luke 4:3a
“The devil does not deny that Jesus is God’s Son, but exploits this status by urging Jesus to use his power in his own way to serve his own ends; he thus reinterprets “Son of God” to mean the opposite of faithful obedience and agency on God’s behalf.” – Joel B. Green
“Jesus gave glory to God by being himself- deeply, truly, consistently…Sanctity is finding our hidden and true self in Christ and living out the life that flows from this self in surrender to the loving will and presence of our heavenly Father. In this, Christ leads many sons and daughters to the Father and to the freedom of being our true self.” – David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself
“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. God’s love for you and his choice of you constitute your worth. Accept that, and let it become the most important thing in your life.” -Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
“We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God. For as I have said, in finding God, we find our truest and deepest self. The anthropological question (Who am I?) and the theological question (Who is God?) are fundamentally inseparable. It is by losing our self in God that we discover our true identity.” – David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself
God has a track record for using wilderness as a way to force humans to face up to questions they would rather dodge. His Spirit leading Jesus to the wilderness before His ministry began in earnest is not some one-off event. On the contrary, God has often used wilderness as a space where a man or woman has to face themselves and can come face to face with Him as well. And as much as the devil seized on the wilderness as a place to tempt Jesus to embrace a false identity, God saw fit to use it as a place where Jesus’ identity and mission were imprinted even more deeply upon Him. Jesus’ ability to refuse each temptation further clarified His real identity. Jesus’ ability to lean more on the Father rather than to distrust Him allowed Him to enter His ministry fully confident in His identity as God’s beloved Son. Because Jesus resisted each temptation, He never had to contend with a false self. Not so with us. We often embrace a false version of ourselves as we embrace the temptations the devil holds out to us. The real trouble is that what once was an act (like taking the fruit to be like God) becomes a false self-construct. We go from using a sin to mask our weakness to becoming our mask. Our false self becomes our identity and in the process, we give away the ability to see ourselves as we really are. So then, this false self makes it almost impossible to be authentic with ourselves, others, and God. What we need is not just the death of a behavior but the death of a being, the death of our false selves.
This is where the power of the gospel comes in to rescue us. Jesus was fully and authentically Himself, an identity anchored in God. He offers to us an identity in Him that is real, no hiding necessary. We are loved as we are, not as we hope to be, or the false self we project. This gives us the opportunity to lay aside our false self. We can stop pretending because, God knows the real us and scandalously loves the real us. Once we understand this, it frees us up to enter into and explore the real self that God has for us, a self whose identity is anchored in Jesus. I can fully surrender myself to the Father because, I am secure in who I am in Him. I am not worried about protecting myself, defending my reputation, or promoting myself. I can surrender all of that to a Father who loves me, just as I am. I can also freely repent of sin as someone who is fully known. I can lay down my attempts to cover or excuse sin because, I know my Father already knows them and has in Jesus provided pardon and cleansing for them. As you prepare to enter the 40 days of Lent, commit to radical honesty with yourself and God. Ask for His help in bringing to light false identities that you are currently hiding behind. Refuse the easy path of pretending and embrace the process of becoming yourself- the true self in Christ that you were created to be.
Application Questions: (these questions are for personal reflection and discussion in Supper Clubs)
What false identities has God helped you lay aside?
Basil Pennington gives three categories that the false self often falls into: what I have, what I can do, what others think of me. How has your identity been anchored in any of these areas? In what way(s) has God been kind to show you that these identities are false? What have been good redemptive reminders of your real identity in these areas?
In his book, The Gift of Being Yourself, David G. Benner points out that there are two pretty helpful pointers to the false self: touchiness and annoyance. This is because, we learn to defend our false self at all costs. What you are most quick to defend about yourself is often a good indicator of a false identity. (e.g., If I protect my self-importance, that probably highlights the fact that my false self needs to feel important in the eyes of others.) What annoys us in someone else is often the inverse of what I want others not to see in me. (e.g., Your laziness drives me crazy because, my false self is performance driven and hard working) What are you touchy about in the way others perceive you? What are you annoyed by in others? How does that help you understand your false identities?
Is there one part of your identity that God seems to be working on in particular? What tools is He using?
Reflecting on your story, when did God lead you into the wilderness? What was the most valuable growth you experienced as a result?