My Oldest Boy
Identity. We will do anything to gain it, sell our souls to maintain it, and suffer greatly to secure it. And yet we are often rarely satisfied with the identity we possess. Since my family and I have come home, I have had to struggle through this topic in my head. What is my identity? Who is Jason Knapp? Am I a missionary? Is that what I really am? Am I a member of a certain organization? Is that where my worth comes from? Am I a citizen of a certain country? Is that where I find my security? What are my accomplishments? Do I find my fulfillment and maintain my reputation by accomplishing those? What happens if all of that is changed or stripped away? Then what?
God has been revealing to me, in ever increasing clarity, what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ... what it means to be a Christian. I know, that sounds so basic and simple. But we humans really are a simple and base people, we often just pretend that we are more than we really are. The Apostle Paul learned this, a man who thought he had found his identity in his nationality, his title, his accomplishments, his reputation... he learned that all of this was but a pile of stinking dung in comparison with his true identity: "Being found in him (Jesus Christ), not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ..." (Phil 3:8-9) And in Galatians, Paul makes it even more clear when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me..." His identity was Jesus.
The answer to the identity question is simple yet profound: I am in Christ. He is my identity. I am a Christian. It does not matter what I do, where I am from, who I associate with, what my accomplishments are, what organizations I am a part of, or what I own. What matters is that I am a believer in the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ, and that in him is found freedom, life, security, fulfillment, and acceptance. I will not labor for a position, I will not work to maintain a reputation, I will not struggle for a title, and I will not fight for security because all of this is given to me freely by grace through faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am a Christian, and nothing else! I will only labor to serve HIM, work to praise HIM, struggle to give HIM glory, and fight for faith in HIM! The alternative is not just worthless, but repulsive.
May we truly "know HIM and the power of his resurrection, and may we share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…"
His Clay Pots by Grace,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp
