Galatians 3:26-29 (KJV) says, “26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” 

One of the greatest names you can bear is simple:  a child of God! God receiving us as sons and daughters through the spirit of adoption is the best gift any man or woman can ever receive in this life! How can you allow the cares of life to overwhelm and overcome you when you know you have a Father in heaven who loves you and is always defending you? Not only that, He is your King and Creator! To be His child means everything, and once you establish that relationship, it changes everything! 

Jesus did not come to establish a religion. In fact, the word “Christian” is only mentioned two times in scripture (Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). Religion is man’s way to get to God, and while Jesus paved the way for us to have access to the Father, He came to establish a Kingdom. In other words, the kingdom of heaven came to us! We don’t have to search through philosophy and theology to discover our purpose and what God’s interest is for us. We can have an open line of communication to God in prayer and understand through scriptures that we are King’s kids. We belong to Him!

Your identity is not based on your calling, career, occupation, other’s opinions, and what others who are connected to you do, but rather who you are! For example, you might be a “Teacher”, but “Teacher” is not your identity. It may be an avenue to fulfill your God-given purpose, which is “to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue and have dominion” (Genesis 1:26-28). By doing this, teaching allows us to grow the kingdom of God and make disciples of Christ, but in spite of that, “teacher” is not you identity. Your identity is about your DNA, who your heavenly Father is! 

Oftentimes, we put an expectation upon people that God never placed upon them, and therefore, they are walking outside of their character, nature and identity. Another example is “Preacher’s Kid”. PK kids have a reputation of being self-centered and rebellious towards their parents because of their conservative upbringing, and by the time they graduate high school, they are more than ready to take on the world! But the reason they struggle to find acceptance and get out of the preacher’s house is because of the label everyone else placed upon them. Their name should be based on what their mother or father does, but who they are. They are not a child of their father’s calling, but a child of their father! Once we really grasp that revelation, we can take off false expectations, ideas and assumptions of people and allow them to grow in their true identity!