Bible verses about identity in Christ

Made on purpose

The Bible's account of who you are starts before your story went wrong. Psalm 139 says God formed your inward parts and knit you together in your mother's womb, and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Ephesians 1 says that God chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world, and that in love he planned to adopt them as his children.

This is not a claim that everything you have done is fine. It is a claim that you are known, wanted and not an accident, and that your worst moments are not the first word about you.

Given the right to be his child

John's Gospel says that to as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name. The children are born not of blood or of the will of the flesh but of God. Adoption is something done for you, not something you work up.

A child can behave badly and still be a child. The relationship is not renewed each day by performance.

New, though still growing

Paul tells the Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old things have passed away, and look, all things have become new. In Galatians he says he has been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him.

These are statements about what has happened, and they sit next to the daily work of growth. A new creation can still be learning to walk.

• When you catch the old label, answer it aloud: I am his child.

Not a slave to fear

Romans 8 says that you did not receive a spirit of bondage leading again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs.

The word Abba is an intimate family word for father. You are invited to speak to God in that voice, including when you have just failed.

Practice makes this real. When you notice a harsh label, stop and say what God has said instead. Keep it simple and repeat it often. Over time the old names lose their weight, not because you forced them out, but because you have heard a better voice often enough to recognise it.

A people with a purpose

Peter writes to scattered believers that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Then he gives the reason: that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Ephesians 2 says we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. You have been made for something, and it is bigger than the fight.

• Write the verse you most need on a card and keep it where you pick up your phone.

A prayer to say with these verses

Father, thank you that you call me your child. Where I have believed lesser names, replace them with yours. Help me to live as someone you love, and to rest in what you have said. Amen.