For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. – Galatians 3:26-27

Compared to what was being taught among the Galatians, this was a revolutionary statement. In traditional Jewish thinking (carried into Christianity by Jewish Christians), your standing before God was measured by your obedience to the law. To truly be close to God – considered sons of God – you had to be extremely observant of the law, just as the Scribes and Pharisees were (Matthew 23). Here, Paul says we can be considered sons of God in a completely different way: through faith in Christ Jesus. To be among the sons of God means that we have a special relationship with God as a loving and caring Father. It is a place of closeness, a place of affection, a place of special care and attention. Out of this is born (or should be born) our Christian identiy.

I had many identities as a child. We moved quite a bit, and each new schoolroom was a new place to promote my identity. As a child, I did not understand that I was walking into buildings with my spiritual siblings (the other Christians there). I spoke like a child and acted as one fully concerned with sports and recess not concerned with compassion and grace. You may say, “all children are like this.” That may well be a fact, but I respond by asking how many adults still act like spiritual children? How many adults choose their career, friend groups, or personal pleasure over God? The hope is not many, but the answer to that number is probably shockingly high.

This is in part due to the general church’s inability to address the identity of the body of Christ. If you are a part of the body of Christ then no other identity you have is more important. Everything we do should stem from our identity in Christ. Many Christians seem content with just “dipping a bit” into Jesus. God wants us to be fully immersed in Jesus; not sprinkled, not just a part of us dipped. When a person is immersed in water, you don’t even see the person much anymore – you mostly see the water. When we live as baptized into Christ, you don’t see so much of “me” anymore; you mostly see Jesus.

But what do you see when you look into the mirror? It is not easy to search one’s own heart, but it is required. We spoke a bit about that yesterday. The law is a tutor that reminds us of our need for Jesus. Today, this tutor is reminding us that same fact again. YOU NEED JESUS. WE ALL NEED JESUS. But, we all do not recognize this need. For those that do, when people look at you Jesus should be all they see. Your priorities should line up with the same closeness, affection, and special care/attention we receive from God as Sons of God. I pray this Thursday you lose sight of yourself and begin to only see Jesus.

Amen