FINDING IDENTITY

COLOSSIANS 3:1-3
MATTHEW 11:28-30 (MSG)

28-30“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on

religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll
recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real
rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I
do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t
lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company
with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
NEW LIFE IN CHRIST (IDENTITY / SPIRITUALITY)

Religion – is a unified beliefs and practices which are

relative to sacred things and which unite into a single
and moral community called church, all adherents.
Spirituality – “There is a discontent (desire), another
word for soul and spirit, and what . . . persons do with
that discontent is their spirituality.
NEW LIFE IN CHRIST (IDENTITY / SPIRITUALITY)

Religion has something to do with structure,

organization, body of beliefs (set of
dogmas/doctrine) ; Spirituality is focused on
the person (one’s Being).
To understand spirituality, we need to know
ourselves; we also need to know God.
Spirituality focuses on BEING! (our
spiritual identity)
GOD CREATED US TO LONG FOR (DESIRE)

'He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has

also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can
fathom what God has done from beginning to end. '
Ecclesiastes 3:11
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
 Your desire for God and the
The spiritual life capacity to reach for more of
begins with the God than you have right now
is the deepest essence of who
willingness to name you are?
our desire in Jesus’  It is one of the most powerful
motivation for a life lived with
presence. intentionality and focus.
- Ruth Haley Barton
WHAT DO YOU WANT JESUS TO DO FOR YOU?

Mark 10:36, 51 – Jesus ask, “What it is you want?”

Sons of Zebedee and the blind man.\
 John 5:5-6 5One who was there had been an
invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him
lying there and learned that he had been in this
condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you
want to get well?”
HE IS YOUR LIFE (COLOSSIANS 3:3-4 MSG)

1-2So if you’re serious about living this new

resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the
things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle
along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things
right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is
going on around Christ—that’s where the action is.
See things from his perspective.
HE IS YOUR LIFE (COLOSSIANS 3:3-4 MSG)

3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is

your real life—even though invisible to spectators—
is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ
(your real life, remember) shows up again on this
earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious
you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
REFLECTION:

• Are you longing for God?

• What it is you want?