Who am I? That question can now be answered in dozens of ways, all of them encouraging, so long as we have personally trusted Christ as Savior. But before we look at the question, “Who am I?” let’s step back to consider the question, “Who was I?” What does the Bible say about us before we came to faith in Christ? We were ungodly. We were lost. We were blind. We were dead. We were hopeless. And the adjectives could go on and on. But even though Scripture uses many adjectives to describe who we were, metaphors are not so plentiful. Unbelievers are referred to as sheep going astray and as children of disobedience/wrath, but there are not many more. Yet the metaphors that describe us after the most welcome invasion occurred in our lives abound – God’s grace came in and changed everything. Fascinating pictures of who we are in Christ leap bountifully from the pages of the New Testament.
The Lord Jesus describes us as the salt of the earth and the light of the world in the Sermon on the Mount. In His Upper Room Discourse, He refers to us as His friends as well as branches in a vine, Himself being the True Vine. And in Acts 1:8, He says that we are His witnesses. The apostle Paul informs us in his letters that we are ambassadors for Christ, athletes and soldiers, members of Christ’s body and heirs of God. Peter adds to our growing list, stating that we are a kingdom of priests as well as living stones. And multiple New Testament authors tell us that we are saints, servants and sons of God. Interestingly, it was likely unbelievers who gave us yet another title – Christians (Act 11:26), meaning “Christ’s ones.”
While this is not an exhaustive list, each of the above metaphors will be explained in detail in the pages which follow in this special issue of Truth & Tidings devoted to answering the question, “Who am I?” now that I have become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The world and the devil will tell you that you are many things – guilty, a failure, naïve, hateful, bigoted. Don’t believe their descriptions. Let the pages of your Bible tell you who you are and respond accordingly.
It was John Newton who said, “I am not what I might be; I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I wish to be; I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’” The grace of God has changed everything, including who we are. “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come!” (2Co 5:17 NET). And what is new is beautiful!
Who are you? If you’re a Christian, keep reading and you’ll find out. If you’re not, please read the back cover article on what a Christian is and put your trust in the Lord Jesus. If you do so, you too will become a new creation.
