“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9 (NRSV)

Position v. Performance

There is an oft quoted story about small children being asked in school about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Of course, everyone mostly came up with different occupations, but one child wrote down “I want to be happy”.

The story is often quoted to show how as modern-day human beings we are always tied up with our roles and work. If anyone asks us for an introduction, after our names and our birthplace, the next thing that usually comes up is our job or our role. We are either managers or engineers or accountants, or housewives or something else. What we do grabs such a huge chunk of our identity.

Our Identity is in Christ

As believers, we somehow drag that mentality into our walk of faith as well. We define how “good” or “bad” the believer is just by measuring what is done or rather more importantly what is not. If you are struggling with a particular sin for a long time, then you are bad believer. If you are not reading the Bible or not praying on time or, God forbid, you miss a church service, then immediately you are stamped as “bad”.

But God doesn’t want us to tie our identity or worth with what we do or do not do. As the Paul says in Ephesians, we are “saved by faith, and this is not [our] doing.” It is a gift, not the result of works. We were saved, when we did nothing to be saved. What we do is not so important to God as much as realizing where we are in His Kingdom. Knowing our position as a believer, holds far more value than measuring our daily actions.

We are the children of God. The moment we gave our lives to Him, the moment we trusted in His sacrifice for us, we were taken into His kingdom, adopted into His family, and today we can boldly call Him as Abba, Father. We are His children.

There are no Second Rank Believers

Notice that in Gods kingdom, there are no elders, pastors, or even parents or grandparent. Every believer is a child of God. We are all equal, equally loved, equally blessed, equally under His wings of blessing and grace. Your pastor is not above you in the hierarchy of the Kingdom of God. That famous minister or preacher isn’t anywhere closer to our Heavenly Father than you. That person who prays 6 hours a day isn’t ahead of you in the line. No!!

We are all His children. We are all seated on the right hand of the Father in Jesus Christ. There is no one better than you, but then again there is no one worse than you also.

So you see, realizing or understanding that we are His children solves so many issues. We no longer have any grounds to look down on or judge our fellow believers, they are also His children. We don’t need to hurry to that elder for prayer. He doesn’t have any backdoor entry to God; we are His children, and we have open access to Him. We don’t need to live in this world in fear or anxiety, because we know a father will always love and always protect his children. Prayer and spending time with God will no longer be a burden when we approach it as His children rather than the followers of the religion of Christianity.

Knowing Your Identity Frees You for Good Works

Now, if you are a careful reader the next question would be that it says in the book of James that faith without works is dead. What about that? Yes, works are important, what we do is important, but it should come from a heart which knows its true position in Christ.

Jesus called Himself the True Vine, and we are His branches. We the branches, will produce the fruit, as long as we are attached with the Vine. As long as we allow the life of the vine to flow through us, we will produce the fruit. The branch doesn’t produce fruit on its own. It is only a channel; the source is the vine.

When we understand our position as children of God, when we are trusting in Him, His life flows through us and will definitely produce the fruit or the works that will be a blessing to all.

Let us not put the horse before the cart and try to manufacture works or performance on our own. Rather like Mary, lets choose the better part and believe in the truth that we are His children. Meditate on that truth especially when you feel that you are not worth it. That faith will allow Him to do the work in our lives which will enable us to do His works and bear fruit.