Identity in Christ

Before Christ

One thing I love wasting time doing is looking at cars and trucks on Facebook Marketplace that I know I can’t afford. I’ve done this enough times that I can usually tell which cars have rebuilt titles before even reading the description. The pictures look great, the car looks clean, but the price seems way too good to be true.

I think a lot of us live like rebuilt cars.

We try to make it seem like our lives are great and that we’ve got everything together. But deep down, we’re carrying stress, pain, insecurity, family struggles, and anxiety about the future. We can only pretend we’re fine for so long before everything starts falling apart.

Before I really met Jesus, this is exactly how I lived.

I spent years pretending I had everything together because I didn’t want people to know I was struggling. I was adopted at a young age and honestly didn’t really know how to live in a family. Then, when I was 15, I was sent to live with my grandma, whom I barely knew at the time. I felt angry, confused, and honestly pretty lost.

I grew up around church and knew who God was, but for a long time I didn’t really want a relationship with Him—I mostly just wanted to see what He could do for me.

Meeting Christ

When I moved away, everything familiar was suddenly gone. My friends weren’t around anymore, my family relationships were struggling, and for the first time in my life, I couldn’t control my own story. Everything I had been trying to hold together finally fell apart.

I think that’s exactly where God started changing my life.

I realized I was exhausted from trying to control everything and become the person I thought everyone else wanted me to be. No matter how hard I tried, it never felt like enough. That’s when I realized my identity was never supposed to come from other people.

For so long, I tried to find my worth in approval, friendships, and trying to make people proud of me. But eventually, all those things leave you empty because they aren’t supposed to define you.

Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose
spirits are crushed.” When I hit my lowest point, God didn’t push me away or shame me for struggling. He met me right there.

I remember one night finally breaking down and crying for the first time in years. Instead of feeling abandoned, I felt peace. It felt like God was saying, “You don’t have to carry this alone anymore.”

Life After Christ

That moment didn’t instantly fix my life, but it changed the direction of it. I still struggle sometimes with dwelling on the past and thinking I know what’s best for my life. But the difference now is that I’m not trying to handle everything on my own anymore.

The only reason I’m consistent today is because God has been consistent with me first. Because God showed up for me, I’m able to show up for other people now. I can show up for my family, serve in youth ministry at church, or support a friend going through a difficult week. I can love people better because God loved me first.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has
passed away; behold, the new has come.”

God doesn’t just patch us up enough to survive. He changes us from the inside out. The biggest way Jesus changed my life was showing me that my identity is not rooted in my past, my struggles, or other people’s approval — it’s rooted in Him.

If you feel exhausted from trying to hold everything together on your own, maybe your next step is simply being honest with God. You don’t have to clean yourself up before coming to Him. When we place our identity in Christ rather than in the world, He gives us purpose, hope, and a renewed strength to keep moving forward.