I Identify As . . .

While at a golf fundraising event I saw a marine veteran wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed, “I Identify As Vaccinated.” It radiated humor but was actually rather brilliant. It subtly broadcast with absurdity the politically-correct notion that someone can identify as whatever gender they desire. As the federal government moves to require schools to accommodate transgender students not surprisingly there is an immediate push back. College of the Ozarks is suing President Joe Biden because his executive order on “gender identity” violates the school’s religious freedom by compelling it to force their students to share dorms and shower facilities with members of the opposite sex.[1] So let’s take a closer, deeper look at the whole issue of identity. ​

​Meditation
1 Corinthians 15:48-49--Like the man made of dust, so are those who are made of dust; like the heavenly man, so are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly man.
            
Just because someone declares something with words, by dress, or through behavior does not establish truth.  And this hits at the core of why our society is falling apart. Truth is not just under siege, it is mocked and completely disdained. Humanism has reached the threshold that it merely makes declaration now to have its way. Any opposed are thus evil and wrong.  

According to Scripture, we, the created, do not determine our identity—God makes that eternal decision. Genesis 1:27 unambiguously states: “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” For a male to claim to be a female or vice versa, is to state that God got it wrong, that the created knows better than the Creator the correct gender. That is an extremely dangerous and unwise position to take.

God’s intent in creation far surpasses the issue of gender. He created us to have an eternal relationship with us. Philip Yancy wrote, “What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as ‘the one Jesus loves?’ How differently would I view myself at the end of a day?”[2] Our identity should rest in the secure knowledge that God loves us, not in what sex we think we should be. 

Be image-centered, not gender-focused. Paul shared with the Corinthians that one day they would bear a redeemed image. Thanks to the incredible sacrifice of Christ we will be forever and wonderfully transformed—free of confusion, sin and deformity.  This is our hope to share. Fulfillment comes not in our sex but in our relationship with the omnipotent One who made us.  Something to identify with . . . in reveration 
 
Inspiration
Identity is not something that can be fully revealed in this age, and it is not a quest that we can complete on our own. Identity is something that our Creator alone can bestow on us.—Skye Jethani in with
 
©2021 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)


[1] https://www.westernjournal.com/biden-sued-college-executive-order-puts-males-female-dorms-showers/
[2] Philip Yancey. (1997). What’s So Amazing About Grace? Zondervan Publishing House.