Child Identified

Exodus 3:1–12, 1 John 2:28–29, 1 John 4:7 (read online ⧉)

Moses was not a shining example of humanity. He was…human. He had a temper. He certainly had a confused identity. He was a child of the court of Egypt. How he fit (or didn’t ) into the courts of the Pharoahs is an unknown. A Pharoah’s daughter pulled him from the Nile, knowing he was a Hebrew. Then she gave him to a Hebrew to be a nurse. We don’t know anything that really occurred in his life from his assigning to a Hebrew nursemaid to the day he killed an Egyptian overseer. We can reasonably that Moses dealt with two identities, one as an adopted child of the Pharoahic court, and one the blood child of a Hebrew. Moses was, in many respects, destined to be forever confused and torn by his two identities. This is much the same with us. We have our human earthly identity, and we have our heavenly identity. We often become confused between them.

John writes, “ Everyone who does what is right, has been born of him.” Most of us look at these words and ask, “What about me?” We see them in the of our own weaknesses and failures. With that , it’s hard for the words to bring us comfort. Knowing to whom John was writing (people he , cared for, and wanted the best for), we can be assured that it wasn’t his goal. Our identity in Christ is something far different than our identity on earth. It is to that identity that John writes. That identity has done what is right and has been born of him.

When John speaks later about everyone born of God loves, we are again tied back to the one of whom we are born…Jesus Christ. So much of who we are is our identity. Some of our identity is nothing we can control (i.e., of origin, birth , native tongue, etc.). Other things we can identify with. Hopefully, you have —at this point—to identify as a Child of God through Jesus Christ and the . Holding onto and affirming this identity is what creates the space in our hearts and lives to be right and (Godly) loving.

Moses, like us, had two identities, Hebrew and of Pharaoh. In many respects, both are earthly identities prone to failures and flaws. Yet, Moses did choose to be a Hebrew. Then he accepted (granted, somewhat grudgingly) the leadership of a people taking them from earthly nation to Godly nation. Moses made mistakes before and during the journey. The Hebrews made plenty of their own mistakes. Despite all of that, however, God still identified them as his chosen people.

1) What do you see as your earthly identities? How do they coexist, and how do they conflict?

2) While God calls us his children, why do we tend to undermine that identity by identifying with our failures, mistakes, and tendencies?

3) Say out loud, “I am a loved child of God.” What was your emotional and physical reaction to that? Why do you think that is?