Minister’s Message: Where is Your Identity?
Published 2:30 am Friday, June 19, 2026
Doesn’t it seem we are constantly identifying ourselves? Whether you are showing your ID, supplying a password, moving through multiple authentications, or even just being asked, “What’s your name?” we regularly are demanded to prove ourselves to someone somewhere. Sometimes we even are trying to communicate who we are to others with a label or declaration.
When a person responds to the lavish love of God and begins a relationship with the One who has designed them, they are given a new identity: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul wrote these words to encourage others to understand who they are in Christ. He was qualified to say this, because his whole life he wrestled with his own identity. Consider Paul’s progression of what he wrote in the Bible about how he saw himself and how it highlights his downward surrender as he matured in Christ.
Paul, inspired by God, wrote much of the New Testament and before following Jesus he had given himself to a strict religious life focused on elevating his identity instead of bringing praise to God. In fact, Saul, his name at the time, had some very impressive religious credentials: a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, he followed all the traditions, and was even found blameless according to the law (Philippians 3:4-6).
Things changed when he met Jesus. First, his heart changed and even he was given a new name, Paul. This ushered in his new life and a place among followers of Christ. Early on in his first letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9). At this point he had planted churches, performed miracles, written major epistles, and even traveled much of the Roman world. Yet he says, “I am the least of all apostles.” Paul did not forget where he came from and what he had done. The more he understood grace, the less he focused on his accomplishments.
As the years progressed – in the middle of ministry around AD 60-62 – he wrote I am “less than the least of all saints” (Ephesians 3:8). Paul no longer was comparing himself to the apostles, but instead compared himself to all believers as his focus had shifted from what he had done for Christ to what Christ has done for him. He even said everything that once defined him was now rubbish compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:7-8). Paul’s spiritual growth meant valuing Christ more than personal achievement.
At the end of ministry, Paul – looking back on his life – summed up his understanding of God’s holiness and his grace when he penned, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). The greatest missionary in Christian history understood the magnificence of Jesus, his need for God’s grace, and his entire existence belonged to Christ. Paul’s example summarizes complete surrender and his identity in Christ. It is a call for followers of Jesus to live out the same downward journey: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Let this be the identity of every follower of Christ: less of self, more of Jesus.
Frank Alioto is the pastor of Roots Family Church and serves as a chaplain in our community.
