What Do You Say About Yourself? Knowing Who You Are in Christ

In my last post, we considered one of the most important questions Jesus ever asked His disciples:

“But who do you say that I am?”

It is a question every believer must eventually answer personally.

Not merely, What does my pastor say about Jesus? What did my parents teach me? What does my church believe?

But:

Who do I know Him to be?

Yet I believe there is another question that naturally follows our revelation of Christ.

Once I begin to know who He is, I must also begin to understand who I am because I belong to Him.

And there is one biblical character who demonstrates this beautifully.

John the Baptist.

There Must Have Been Something About John

John the Baptist is one of those biblical characters I believe deserves much more study.

Think about his assignment.

For generations, Israel had waited.

The prophetic voice had been silent for centuries, and then suddenly a man appeared in the wilderness preaching:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Crowds came to hear him.

People traveled into the wilderness to see him.

He baptized multitudes.

Religious leaders came to investigate him.

And then Jesus Himself gave John an extraordinary commendation, saying:

“Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.”— Matthew 11:11

God chose John to prepare the way for Christ.

There must be something we can learn from this man.

And one of the things that stands out to me most is how settled John was in his identity.

John knew who he was.

Perhaps just as importantly, he knew who he wasn't.

Who Are You?

John's ministry attracted so much attention that religious leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to investigate him.

They wanted answers.

Who exactly was this man?

Was he the Christ?

Elijah?

The Prophet?

John answered their questions until eventually they asked him:

“Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”— John 1:22

I find that question fascinating.

What do you say about yourself?

Imagine someone asking you that today.

Not:

What is your occupation?

What degrees do you have?

Are you married?

How many children do you have?

What is your job title?

What have you accomplished?

But:

Who are you?

And then even more personally:

What do you say about yourself?

Would you know how to answer?

John Knew Who He Was Not

Before John told them who he was, he was remarkably clear about who he was not.

“I am not the Christ.”

They asked whether he was Elijah.

He said no.

They continued questioning him.

John did not need to exaggerate his importance simply because people were willing to give him a bigger title.

That is identity.

When you know who you are, you do not have to become whatever other people want you to be.

You do not need every title.

You do not need every platform.

You do not need every opportunity.

You do not have to pretend to possess someone else's assignment simply because it appears more impressive than yours.

There is tremendous freedom in being able to say:

“That is wonderful—but that is not who I am.”

Identity gives you boundaries.

John Also Knew Who He Was

Eventually they pressed him:

If you are not the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet, then who are you?

John answered:

I am‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’as the prophet Isaiah said.— John 1:23

Do you see what John did?

When they asked him who he was, John answered with what God had already said.

Centuries earlier, Isaiah had prophesied:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”— Isaiah 40:3

John essentially said:

That's me.

That is who I am.

He did not invent an identity.

He discovered one that had already been spoken by God.

And I think there is something profound here for us.

What Has God Said About You?

When life asks:

“Who are you?”

What is your answer?

When failure asks who you are?

When rejection asks?

When comparison asks?

When your past asks?

When your body changes?

When the career disappears?

When the relationship ends?

When you succeed?

When you fail?

When people misunderstand you?

When someone labels you?

What do you say about yourself?

Because whether we realize it or not, we are answering that question every day.

“I am not enough.”

“I always mess things up.”

“Nobody really wants me.”

“I am a failure.”

“I will never change.”

“I've always been this way.”

“I am just an anxious person.”

“I have no discipline.”

“I am not as good as them.”

Those are identity statements.

And if repeated long enough, they begin to feel like facts.

But what if, like John, we learned to answer the question with what God has said?

Let God Define You

The Bible has quite a lot to say about who you are in Christ.

You are loved.

You are chosen.

You are forgiven.

You are redeemed.

You are God's workmanship.

You are a new creation.

You are accepted in the Beloved.

You are God's child.

You are His temple.

You belong to Him.

These are not affirmations we invented to make ourselves feel better.

They are truths rooted in what Christ has accomplished.

That distinction matters.

Biblical identity is not standing in front of a mirror trying to convince yourself that you are wonderful.

It is standing before the Word and allowing God to tell you who you are.

My identity is not ultimately based on how highly I think of myself.

It is based on what God has said about me because I am in Christ.

That makes biblical identity very different from self-esteem.

The foundation is not:

“I think highly of myself.”

The foundation is:

“I believe what God says about me.”

Identity Begins With Christ

This is why the order matters.

First:

“Who do you say that I am?”

Then:

“What do you say about yourself?”

We cannot properly understand ourselves apart from Christ.

If identity begins only with ourselves, it will constantly shift.

Our appearance changes.

Our abilities change.

Our careers change.

Our relationships change.

Our health changes.

Our accomplishments change.

People's opinions certainly change.

If my identity is built primarily on any of those things, then whenever they change, I change with them.

But when identity begins with belonging to Christ, there is something underneath me that remains.

Before I am a physician, teacher, parent, spouse, leader, writer, minister, employee, entrepreneur—or whatever other roles I may carry—

I belong to Him.

Everything else is built on that foundation.

Identity Made John Secure Enough to Lose the Spotlight

This may be my favorite thing about John.

His ministry became enormously successful.

People were coming to him.

He had disciples.

He had influence.

He had attention.

And then Jesus arrived.

Suddenly, some of John's disciples became concerned because people were beginning to go to Jesus instead.

In other words: John's platform was shrinking.

If John had built his identity around being the popular preacher in the wilderness, this would have been devastating.

But John understood his assignment.

He said:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”— John 3:30

That statement could only come from someone who knew who he was.

John understood: I was never the destination. I was the signpost.

His purpose was not to gather attention indefinitely.

His purpose was to point attention toward Jesus.

So when Jesus received the attention, John did not experience it as competition.

He experienced it as mission accomplished.

That is the freedom identity gives you.

Identity Frees You From Comparison

This connects beautifully with another truth we have recently considered: comparison.

When you do not know who you are, everyone becomes competition.

Their success threatens you.

Their gifts diminish yours.

Their beauty makes you question yours.

Their ministry makes yours feel insignificant.

Their career makes you feel behind.

Their progress makes you dissatisfied with your own.

But John could look at Jesus becoming greater and say:

Good. That's exactly what was supposed to happen.

Of course, Jesus is uniquely the Messiah, so our relationships with one another are not identical to John's relationship with Christ. But the principle remains: security in your God-given identity frees you to celebrate another person's assignment without feeling that it diminishes yours.

When you know who you are, you do not have to fight for someone else's lane.

But What Do You Say About Yourself?

Knowing what Scripture says is important.

But there is another layer.

What do you say?

John knew Isaiah's prophecy, but when challenged about his identity, he put that prophecy in his own mouth:

“I am…”

This matters because we all have an internal dialogue.

And sometimes our external confession and internal conversation are completely different.

We can talk a big game publicly and feel very small privately.

We can post encouraging Scriptures while internally telling ourselves:

“You're stupid.”

“You're ugly.”

“You always fail.”

“You'll never get this right.”

“Everybody else is doing better than you.”

“God can use them, but not you.”

“You have ruined everything.”

Perhaps no one has spoken to you more consistently throughout your life than you.

That is why your internal dialogue matters.

Your Inner Voice Has Been Listening to You

Think about how often you hear your own thoughts.

Other people may criticize you occasionally.

But if you criticize yourself every morning, afternoon, and evening, whose voice is having the greater influence?

You can spend thirty minutes listening to an encouraging sermon and then spend the remaining waking hours dismantling yourself internally.

Eventually, something has to change.

This does not mean denying reality.

If you made a mistake, acknowledge it.

If you need to grow, grow.

If you sinned, repent.

If your habits need changing, change them.

Biblical identity does not require pretending that everything about our current behavior is good.

It means refusing to make temporary behavior, failure, weakness, or circumstances the final definition of who we are.

You can say:

“I failed”

without saying:

“I am a failure.”

You can acknowledge:

“I am struggling in this area”

without deciding:

“This struggle is who I am.”

You can recognize:

“I have growing to do”

while still knowing:

“I belong to God, and He is working in me.”

Give Yourself a God Response

Life will question your identity.

People will question it.

Circumstances will question it.

Failure will question it.

Success may even question it.

Your changing body may question it.

Age may question it.

Loss may question it.

Comparison certainly will.

And when those questions come, we need a God response.

What has God said?

Not what does fear say?

Not what does shame say?

Not what does social media say?

Not what does your worst day say?

What has God said?

And then agree with Him.

Not arrogantly.

Not pretending.

Not through empty positive thinking.

But with the quiet confidence of someone who has decided:

God gets the final word about me.

Identity and Wholeness

There is a grounding that happens when you know who you are.

You become less easily shaken by people's opinions because they are no longer responsible for defining you.

You become less desperate for external validation because your worth has a deeper source.

You become less threatened by someone else's success because their assignment does not cancel yours.

You become more willing to grow because correction no longer feels like annihilation of your identity.

You can admit:

“I was wrong.”

“I need help.”

“I need to change.”

without collapsing into:

“Therefore, I am worthless.”

That is important for wholeness.

A secure identity creates room for growth.

When our internal dialogue continually fights against what God says about us, we live divided.

God says one thing.

We say another.

Scripture identifies us one way.

Shame identifies us another.

We belong to Christ externally while internally continuing to speak the language of rejection, inadequacy, fear, and condemnation.

Wholeness invites those divided places back into alignment.

Spirit.

Soul.

Body.

Thoughts.

Words.

Beliefs.

Identity.

Increasingly agreeing with God.

Speak God's Words Over Yourself

So I want to leave you with John's question:

“What do you say about yourself?”

Pay attention to your answer.

Pay attention especially when you fail.

When you look in the mirror.

When someone else succeeds.

When you are rejected.

When you are tired.

When your plans do not work.

When nobody applauds.

Listen to what you say internally.

And whenever your words disagree with God's, bring them back into alignment.

Find out what He has said about you.

Believe it.

Think it.

Speak it.

Live from it.

You do not need to invent an identity.

You need to discover the one God has already given you in Christ.

John knew who he was.

He knew who he wasn't.

He knew what he had been sent to do.

And because his identity was settled, he could fulfill his assignment without needing to become the center of it.

May the same become true of us.

First, settle the question:

“Who do you say Jesus is?”

Then allow your knowledge of Him to answer the next one:

“What do you say about yourself?”

And when life asks you who you are, give it a God response.

Because there is wholeness in agreeing with God.

I love you,

Oyin.