Transformed by a new identity.

It is important for us to grasp the significance of our new identity. Being in Christ means that God no longer deals with us on the basis of our merits, but according to the merits of Jesus. God always sees us in Christ, and that is how we must see ourselves.

When the Israelites were in Egypt, they were a race of slaves. For over 400 years they were in bondage to the Egyptians. Then, one day, God miraculously delivered them out of Egypt. They were free. They had a new status in life. They were no longer slaves. They were a free nation. God had destined them for a purpose.

Yet, they held onto their old self-image. They still saw themselves as slaves. Their thinking never lined up with their identity. They had a new Status but kept their old mentality.

Sadly, many Christians live like this. They have a new identity but keep their old ways of thinking about themselves.

This tension between identity and mindset is not unique to them. Even when circumstances change, the residue of the past can cling stubbornly to our perceptions. The Israelites, though liberated by divine intervention, struggled to embrace the reality that they were no longer defined by their chains. Habits of thought, forged in seasons of hardship, often outlast the hardships themselves.

In the wilderness, their freedom required a new way of seeing transformation not of location, but of heart and mind. Their journey was not just a passage from Egypt to the Promised Land, but a deeper migration from the mentality of bondage to the assurance of belonging. God had set them free, but they had to learn to live as free people: to let go of the identity of slaves and step fully into the calling and inheritance prepared for them.

In the same way, we are invited to lay aside outdated narratives about ourselves. To truly live in the fullness of our new identity, we must allow our thinking to be renewed—grasping that we are no longer held captive by our history but are defined by the freedom and purpose granted to us in Christ.

God Bless.

OFJ