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The Father's Business Podcast
The Father's Business Podcast
He Is-The Character of God: He is Our Identity
What if identity isn’t something you build, but something you receive? We open up the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17—becoming a new creation—and trace how that truth reshapes daily life. Instead of chasing approval or curating an image, we talk about being chosen, adopted, and beloved, with full rights and a secure inheritance in the family of God. That shift breaks the cycle of striving and replaces it with freedom rooted in grace.
You’ll hear a spoken blessing of identity to anchor these truths: no condemnation, full belonging, real security, and the joy of walking as heirs. If you’re tired of defining yourself by roles, wins, or wounds, this conversation offers a steady, scriptural reset and a path into the wide-open space of grace.
If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a reminder of who they are, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.
The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God. I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
SPEAKER_00:And I am Kimberly Roddy. Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. I'm Elizabeth and I'm here with Kimberly. And today we are going to jump into our series, He Is. It's a study on the character of God and how knowing who God is impacts who we are. And today we're going to look at He is Our Identity. And I love this one because we talk about identity a lot around here, about who we are because of who he is. We have several resources, like revealing the treasures, that dig deeper into that, because so much of life tries to tell us who we are: our family, our friends, our job, even our pain, our failure. We're all of us are hungry trying to understand who am I really? And so today is about us figuring out that our identity is not something that we earn, but something that is given to us by God. So we're going to start with our key verse for this podcast is 2 Corinthians 5, 17. And it says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. And I really like the deeper meaning that I found in the amplified version of this one. It says, Therefore, if any person is engrafted into Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. And behold, the fresh and the new has come. So we're going to spend a little time unpacking that verse and several others to help us understand how God as our identity impacts us. So, Kimberly, let's talk a little bit about that phrase new creation.
SPEAKER_00:What does that mean? The phrase new creation in the Greek literally means a new order of being brought by God. So it's this idea that our identity is not self-made. It's not who we make ourselves to be. It is brought by God. And it's a new order of being. So if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone. So it is a new order of being. It means we have a new identity. It's real, I mean, that's that's why we have that word identity. It's it's new, it's and it's brought by God. And I think that's, like you said, Elizabeth, we often try to make our identity or find our identity in things that we want to define us or in things that happen to us that we feel like define us. And that falls so short of what Jesus wants in the gospel. When he says that he came to make all things new, and when he says if anyone is in Christ, then we are new creatures, we are a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come. It means that we don't have to define ourselves by things that we make up. I always say that I run to sunglasses and clothes and things like that, or run to the mall to feel better. And so if my identity is in this new phone that I have, or this new pair of sunglasses I have, or in this new pair of jeans that I have, and then those jeans don't fit anymore, or the phone breaks, or the sunglasses get lost, then I'm lost, right? And so this is where Christ is saying, if you're in me, you're a new creation. I will identify you. I will call you mine. And that's what we see in Ephesians chapter one. Paul says around verse three, he says, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. So he foreordained us, he destined us, he planned in love for us to be adopted. So we are chosen, we are adopted, we are his beloved. And if we could choose to take on and realize he is the one who identifies us, therefore we are chosen, adopted, and beloved, then we don't have to strive or fear whatever identity that we choose to take on or we feel takes on us. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. Because that's what I, as you were reading through those verses and kind of comparing and contrasting where we look for our identity versus what the Bible says is true about us, that that is the major contrast I see. That's this I have to work harder, I've got to improve my image. I mean, just think about again, you know, we talk about social media a lot around here because it is so much a part of our lives. How many people are trying to craft an image of themselves online that they think is acceptable to people around them versus everything that you've just read and you've spoken about, it's a gift. Our only job is to receive this new identity, this new place in him. And it's not that we're just forgiven. It's not that, you know, the slate is wiped clean. That's not all that a new creation means. It, as you said, it talked about a new order of being. We've been adopted. So we're not just saved, we're brought into a family, and all that that implies the security, the love, the acceptance, the spiritual inheritance. There's so much depth to being a member of the family of God. And I love how you just said it, Kimberly, that if we would we're not just sinners that are striving to be good enough to be acceptable, but we have been given the gift of recreation in him so that we can have the freedom to be a beloved child and enjoy him and enjoy those around us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And when you think about the word adoption and the fact that we are adopted, we're not just stepkids or foster kids or orphans. We're actually adopted, which is the legal placement. When kids are adopted today, it is a legal process to say, you are officially mine, there is no question.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And it comes with full rights. So it that that's the legal process says it is a full right process. And so we legally rightly become his sons and daughters through that adoption. Like I'm I'm taking you on as mine. There is no question when you are in me that you're mine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so I think as we allow that to land in a very deep place in us, that we are the beloved daughters and sons of the all-powerful God, the most high God, is what we often say. We the phrase we use a lot around here is a covenant son or daughter of God most high. We phrase it that way because the truth of it so resonates with who what you just said, Kimberly, of who we are. We're not just tolerated and allowed into the group. We have full rights. We are celebrated. We have not only full rights, but we have full power as an heir. You know, there's several places in scripture where Jesus tells us that the same power that he has had, we will do even greater things as he's talking to his disciples, as he's getting ready to leave them. And so if we allow ourselves, as we read in that first verse we read, where I love the way it says that we're engrafted into Christ the Messiah, if we choose to stay in that place with him as we become who we are, the beloved of God, there's going to be a freedom that naturally follows. And I think of that verse in John 8, 36 that says, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. And that's not a freedom to do whatever we want, but it's a freedom from all of this striving and working and worry and fear. Am I enough? Do I have what it takes? Is my life going to be holy enough to meet his impossible standard on my own? Jesus came to give us that freedom so that we can allow ourselves to enjoy the fullness of everything he died to give us.
SPEAKER_00:And so, Elizabeth, how do you think that knowing that you are a new creation, how does that change the way that you see yourself?
SPEAKER_01:I I think I honestly have two answers to that question. You know, there's there's the Sunday school answer, and then there's how my life really goes, right? So knowing I'm a new creation allows me to let go of shame. It allows me to forgive myself, it allows me to live in freedom and allows me to know that I have an ability to tap into all of who God is to live this life here on this earth. And that on a good day when my spirit, soul, and body are in alignment with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that's how, that's how I live. But I think so often the struggle we find ourselves in is we are still trying to run to those broken cisterns. We are still trying to find the quick fix to make us feel better. You know, for you, Kimberly, it's sunglasses and shopping. For me, it's Ben and Jerry's and Krispy Kreme donuts. And so that instant hit of gratification when I get that thing that I want is somehow replacing the truth that should be in my heart and mind, which is my identity comes from him, and I am beloved and complete and full to overflowing, and he is more than enough, and I have everything that I need in him, gets replaced with this temporary pleasure. So, how should knowing I'm a new creation change my life? It should make it a whole lot less tempting to run to a broken cistern. And there are days that it does, and I'm grateful to celebrate the fact that I don't run as much as I used to, but I'm also not fully there where I am a hundred percent rooted in who I am in him. Therefore, I don't ever chase after other things, or I'm not impacted when someone says something that feels like an attack against my identity. And that's why I think God has so much in Scripture about who we are, and we need to be told over and over again that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, as it talks about in 1 Peter. Like, look at through so much of the New Testament. So many verses are talking about who we are in Him because we've got to be reminded.
SPEAKER_00:When you first answered that question, you were talking about the shame that we can sometimes take on when we see ourselves and we run to broken cisterns and that kind of thing, right? And so I I was thinking as you were talking about Romans 8, 1, I think it is, verse 1, it says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Like you were saying, if we can cling to the truth of how God sees us and not just how he sees us, but who he is. He is like you, like we start out talking, he is our identity. I am a child of God, period. First and foremost. It's not I'm a woman, I'm a man, I'm a daughter, I'm a son, I'm a wife, I'm a husband, I'm a victim, I'm a lawyer, I'm a doctor, I'm a whatever, right? Like, no, it doesn't matter. Those are roles that we take on. And some of those things are things that happen to us that become part of our story. But at the end of the day, through all of that, there's no condemnation when we're in Christ and we are chosen, we are adopted, we are a royal, royal priesthood, we are beloved. He is our identity. That is what's most important. And so, as you were saying, if we can walk by the Spirit and we can remember that truth, then it will change how we see ourselves. But it again, as we've said with all these, it doesn't have to be, it shouldn't be. It doesn't, we don't, God doesn't want it to be an act of striving.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think the the freedom in Christ is, you know, not permission to live however we want, or it's not a requirement that we keep trying to improve ourselves that to prove that we're worthy of the freedom that we've been given. But his desire is to empower us to live the way that we were designed to be in the first place. It's always going back to how did God design Adam and Eve in the garden in Genesis? What is it that he wanted for man? You go back there and you look, you see what they had, which is there was no shame. There was abundance in every way they could possibly imagine for everything they want. There was intimacy with God. There were all of these things that we're craving and trying to find by building an identity for ourselves somewhere else, rather than just leaning into the way that God designed us to live in the fullness of Him. This whole idea, I think you can find it in Colossians 3:3, where it says, For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God. And to be hidden in Christ means that safety, that security. Like I think of it like a warm blanket coming and surrounding me completely on a cold day. Nothing in life can touch us without passing through him first. You're covered, you're protected, you're wrapped up in grace, and yet I have to choose to stay there. It's the whole idea we we talk a lot about about abiding. It's the same thing. We're invited to keep coming to him, to keep hiding ourselves in him, but I can also choose to try to go do it on my own. And he's kind and gracious enough to let me, but at the same time, always saying, I've already done the work. I've already been crucified for you. Just come wrap yourself in me and allow me to define who you are.
SPEAKER_00:Elizabeth, that's exactly why I have always, truly always appreciated, loved, and valued the verse in Galatians 2.20. We get to declare, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And Paul goes on to say at the end of Galatians, he's declaring that right there. And he's saying, This is exactly what we're talking about. I no longer live because Christ lives in me. This life I live in the body, I get to live it by faith because he loved me and he gave himself for me. I'm chosen, I'm adopted and beloved. And Paul goes on to say in Galilee toward the end of Galatians in Galatians 5:1, he says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. And if you look in the Amplified, which I know you like to encourage us to look at a lot, I think this is interesting the way it says it here. It says, In this freedom, Christ has made us free and completely liberated us. Stand fast then and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery which you have once put off. And so you've got toward the beginning of Galatians in the early part of that book, Paul is saying, Remember, we've been crucified with Christ in him. We no longer live, but he lives in us. We get to live by faith because he loved us and he gave himself for us. We can have complete adherence and reliance and complete trust in the Son of God because of all he's done for us. And because of that, Christ has set us free and we get to live in freedom. We no longer have to be burdened. And and freedom is freedom means a release from bondage. It's true liberty. And and in these contexts, it is true liberty in Christ. And I I think that freedom in Christ is I I really love the word freedom. And if most people know me, they know that I love to be free. I picture it every every time I get in my convertible and I can put the top down. That is my picture of freedom. I've loved that since I was a kid. Something about the open air just it's it feels free to me. I love being at the beach where there's this vastness of ocean and sand, and it is just it feels free. There are a lot of things that feel free to people. Those are kind of my images. But when I think of those pictures, I think of being free. I think of a lot of people think of that as I just get to do what I want to do. I'm just free. But that's not what this is talking about in its essence. It's talking about it's a freedom in Christ that means I am released from the bondage of sin and I get to live by his spirit.
SPEAKER_01:And I also think you take it like to a place thinking through a judicial viewpoint, we're also free. We deserve death. We, because of sin, we deserve death. And it's it's as if that verdict has been put aside because Christ came to give us freedom. And now we get to walk out of the prison of our own sin, our own shame, our own condemnation. Because as you read earlier, there is no condemnation for us. And I think that is why identity and freedom can't be separated. When you know who you are, you are the beloved, you've been bought with a price, you're in Christ, you're hidden in him, then you'll know how to live. So got this identity, this freedom that we keep talking about brings both belonging and it does bring liberty. It does bring that feeling of, I mean, just imagine if one day you're feeling so overwhelmed with shame and just with a, you know, a snap of a finger, all of a sudden all of that is just gone. You would feel like you were at the ocean in a much bigger horizon or in your convertible with just all the freedom in the world. So there is freedom in Christ isn't just this one-time gift. There's part of it that is. When I choose to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, that is a big step of freedom. But it's also a daily walk of remembering who we are, whose we are, what he's done for us, and that abundance of that wide open space that he now allows us to live in in him and that freedom.
SPEAKER_00:To know that the verdict has been reversed for us, to know that we don't have to live in prison and in chains is a tremendous weight lifted off of us that I don't think I think we take for we take we take it for granted because we don't really realize it. And I'm I'm thinking about going back to how we started this podcast in the very beginning, thinking about 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. There are numerous times in the New Testament where Jesus says he is coming to make all things new, and he has come to make all things new. And I think if we're honest about the way we live our life every day, we're living in a tremendous amount of fear. We're living in a tremendous amount of guilt and condemnation and shame and bondage. Yeah. And this is where we have to remember that Christ is our identity because it changes everything in my perspective. It changes the way I look at every day. If I choose to put on that pair of glasses and look through those lenses of who I am in Christ, then I can get up every day. And walking in freedom is not about abusing grace. Paul says in Romans 5, if you look in verse 20, he says, But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And he goes on in chapter six to say, What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or do you not know that all of you who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? And he goes on, he's basically saying what we're trying to say here, which is, do you not know this? Do you not remember this? Do you not take this on as your identity every day when you wake up? When we talk about spiritual warfare, we'll often talk about putting on the armor every day. Like we have to gird up, we have to be prepared. The same is true with our identity. If not, every day we wake up and we we face what's in front of us and we look at ourselves through our own human lens. We have to remember the truth of the gospel and live it out every day. And I think the power of that is waking up every day and going, I'm a covenant daughter of the most high God, I'm a covenant son of the most high God, and Christ has come to make all things new. And I get to be an agent of change and reconciliation and be his ambassador in this world. That changes the way I live every day. If I put that on an index card, on the mirror, in front of me, where I have to look at it, I was gonna say stamp it on my forehead too, but then others get to see it. But if we put that in front of us, then every day we get to wake up and go, I know why I'm here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That goes directly to our free to be you series, knowing your gift, knowing who you are in Christ, being free to be you in the way that God designed you to live and operate in this world in the beautiful way that He created you and you only to do it, because He chose you, He adopted you, He loves you. The power of that, Elizabeth, is freedom.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It sets us free not to abuse grace, not so that we can go on sinning, but so that we can live in abundance, which is what we've talked about throughout this series. I sound like I'm preaching because I'm passionate and I think that's I I long to live that way every day. And I'll be honest, I don't, and I'll be the first to admit that it's hard. And I don't want to get caught up in the striving of that. I want to that same ver verse in 2 Corinthians in the amplified version, I want to stay in graftis. Is therefore if any person is engrafted in Christ, I want to, I am engrafted. I just want to remember that and call that to mind. And scripture says that over and over again. Call these things forth, bring these things forth to generation after generation after generation, because he knows we're a forgetful people.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so I I it's a beautiful thing. And I I just long for us all to see it and live it and to live it in the abundance and in the community of faith that we're called to live in in this world and to really make a difference individually and corporately.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I think that's part of, we talk a lot about blessing and alignment around here as well. And I think that's part of the reason why that is so important. The whole idea of the words new creation bring a new order of being. You know, part of when I hear that phrase, I also think about how we talk about getting our spirits, souls, and bodies in alignment with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is part of what happens at salvation, but then needs to continue to happen on a daily basis, is a new order. There's there's a new order to how I'm supposed to live. And that's why we keep talking about how identity and freedom are inseparable. Freedom flows from our identity, understanding that we are engrafted in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we live as a child of God that doesn't have to chase acceptance because we carry it. It's who we are. It is our the breath that has been breathed into us that we live from is his identity. So we don't have to perform for love anymore. And yet at the same time, we're our true identity is being restored. That is part of the sanctification process. And so freedom in Christ did remove the chains, but it's also about getting every part of me, my spirit, my soul, my body, my emotions, my mind, my thoughts, everything around this core truth that I am chosen, I am redeemed, I am adopted, I am sealed in the spirit. Like if you go and read through revealing the treasures, there's over, you know, 400 statements about who you are in him. And it's not about striving to get there, it's about resting in who he already says you are. We want to close our time today by sharing with you a blessing of identity and just allow everything of who you are to tune in and listen to this as we bless your spirit, soul, and body with your identity in him. Romans 8, 15 to 17 says, the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship, and by him we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are his children. Now, if we are his children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. So be blessed to know your identity as your Father's beloved child. The Holy Spirit assures your spirit that your heavenly father is yours. He loves you deeply. Be blessed with his tender fathering and receive it as his child. His spirit speaks to you that you are special to him.
SPEAKER_00:Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Your father wants to bless you with growth that is mental, spiritual, emotional, and relational. Let God confirm to you those facets of yourself that he wants to be revealed. Jesus lives in you to shine out of you. Be blessed to grow in character, skills, and potential.
SPEAKER_01:Your father God delights in how he made you. You are one of his masterpieces. You are his song to be sung in a key of music that is unique to you and your special rhythm, harmony, and orchestration.
SPEAKER_00:Receive from your father all the love and acceptance you seek. He wants you to know and enjoy your full identity as his child based purely on relationship, not your performance. Be blessed with perfect love that cast out fear that you aren't enough or don't have what it takes. You are a child of the King, born into his royal family through Christ. You do not have to work for it. It has been freely given to you. You are an heir of the King.
SPEAKER_01:Be blessed to know that your Father is extending his favor to you now. Receive His gift of security in his house. Rest in His grace. Be blessed to live confidently and intentionally in God's heart for you and his purposes for you. I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast. This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you. To donate, go to www.thefathersbusiness.com. Be sure to follow us at the Father's Biz on Instagram and Facebook.
