Identity

Exodus 2:10

“When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying “I drew him out of the water.”

Identity is one thing we seem to struggle with now days. Whether is it your sexual preferences or your gender or the color of your skin, we have become obsessed with identity. Entire movies and dramas have been produced capitalizing on identity. From mistaken identity to false identity we can all agree that it plays a huge role in everyone’s life and we use this identity for acceptance and a sense of belonging to a group or family. In church, we say that you are a part of the body of Christ, identity and belonging. The Hell’s Angels, the Dallas Cowboys, the Denver Nuggets and so on. This thing called ‘identity’ grounds us and marks us. It is as simple as your last name. You are not meant to be loaner or a drifter but God made all of us with a sense of belonging and identity. In Genesis, God said that it is not good for man to be alone so he created Eve. Identity, it is God thing.

The story of Moses is one of the best stories ever. I love it. It starts out with Joseph and his brothers coming to Egypt to escape the famine in the land and they end up living there. Joseph gives Goshen, a fertile part of the Nile delta, for his brothers and all their offspring to live in. Verse 9 tells us that the Israelites have become very numerous after 400 years and the current Pharaoh, who knew nothing of Joseph, was afraid that if war broke out they would join the fight and overthrow the Egyptians. Therefore, enslavement of this people group was the next move to subdue them and keep them under guard and oppressed. Tactics were taken to reduce the population of the Israelites, like killing every male born child. However, these tactics did not work, God was blessing them and multiplying them.

This is where Moses comes into the story. He is a Hebrew boy and his mother, for fear of him being killed, puts him in a basket in the Nile river in order to save his life, hoping someone would save him and take him in. That someone was Pharaoh’s daughter. Scholars say that she was childless and had pity on the child and took him out of the river to raise him as her own. Moses’ sister, seeing this, asks if she would like her to take the boy to his mother and nurse him and when he is older bring him back to be raised as Pharaoh’s daughters own child. Most likely this would have been when Moses was between 2 – 4 years old. Moses grows up in the palace of Pharaoh and his identity was not Egyptian, it was Hebrew. Moses knew this and because while being nursed as a young child his real mother had sown into him his real identity, he was part of the Israelites and that was never going to change. Moses even kills an Egyptian after he sees him mistreat one of his own.

Hebrews 11:24-27 tells us, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

Some of you have grown up in church because your parents made you go. You learned of Jesus Christ and how he died on the cross for you. You might have even raised your hand and accepted Christ at a young age, read your Bible and even prayed at night with faith and hope. Now, you are older and probably moved out of the house and going to church is an option for you not a mandatory thing. You blow it off, not just church but the whole Jesus thing as well. What you don’t realize is that you have been purchased with a heavy price. Jesus died for you and His blood paid your way to heaven. Your identity is set. Just like Moses might have forgotten temporarily that he was a Hebrew and not Egyptian, you might have forgotten about Christ and the church. That will not change your identity, you are made by God and fashioned for His glory and in His image. There is a God hole inside of you and only Jesus Christ can fill it.

You may be enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin for a time and someone is praying for you to come back to the Lord. A case of mistaken identity is what you are dealing with. Sin has blinded you and Satan would like to drive you far from God, but you are never too far away to turn back to the Lord. Your identity never changed. You are a child of the living God and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Today, don’t believe all the hype. Your true identity is in Jesus Christ. Make it a point to go to church regularly and read the Bible every day. Start your journey of discovering who Christ sees you as. He made you and if you will give him your all, He will perfect your faith and help you walk in perfect peace. Not the peace the world gives, but the peace that only comes in relationship to God.