Identity. It gets a lot of play these days. Who am I? What am I? Am I what I think I am? Or am I something other than I think I am? Such confusion.

This morning, I’m grateful for some grounding in a single statement that reminds me who I am.

Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

(Galatians 4:28 CSB)

Like Isaac, I am a child of promise. Born not because of his parents’ virility or fertility — in fact his dad was so old he was a good as dead and his mom’s womb had been barren for most of a century (Rom. 4:19). But “born as a result of the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29). Born not of man’s will (Jn. 1:12-13) but because of God’s promise that children from dead beginnings would be born unto eternal life. I’m a child of promise.

But I am not an only child. I have brothers. I have sisters. And we are children of promise.

To be overly focused on who I am misses the greater calling as to who we are — a family. A family born of the Spirit, living by the Spirit, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3a). Born again as individuals but knit together as family “so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens” Eph. 3:10). Born of promise. Born to make much of the Promiser.

Sometimes it’s good to remember who I am. Especially if it causes me to remember who we are.

It’s not just about Me. In fact, my identity is fully realized only in the context of our identity.

We are children of promise.

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.