We call my husband the-lost-luggage-man. 

I have the foreign teacher who can tell jokes in Chinese! 

I’m just the-mother-of-only-one-child. 

That student has helped our department win the sports meet every year. 

Please come to our neighborhood party. You make everyone laugh. 

Is that the teacher who corrected the dean’s English at a staff meeting?

Is there any permanence in these identities? Life could bring so many different twists and turns to each of these people. Some changes will make these current identities laughable and others tragic. The young athlete who made his department proud may go on to become a famous coach or be struck with a debilitating disease. The-life-of-the-party may become the-inappropriate-foreigner if he moves to another country and learns that humor is very, very culturally based. The insensitive English teacher may be shamed by his former reputation only to recall the incident with chagrin. The mom of one could go on to have a family of five. 

For believers, no matter how many temporary titles may be used about us, they are not used by God to define us. John Piper has written, “Christian selfhood…is defined in terms…of what God does to us and the relationship he creates…Our identity is for the sake of making known his identity.” It’s not about our language or athletic skill, number of children, or inability to control our tongue. Paul makes it very basic. “…there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Co-heirs with Christ! Blessed with every spiritual blessing! Part of His body! 

I think that just like we have short- and long-term memory, we also have short- and long-term identities. Living outside our passport countries, being the different one in the neighborhood – goodness, identities abound. Beyond the-Canadian-lady there’s the-teacher-who-comes-home-at-11 or the-one-whose-baby-was-sick. The words can fit, be untrue, or just be confusing. Let’s hold them loosely. Sometimes with tears and sometimes with laughter. 

But our identity in Christ is not just long-term – it’s permanent. It’s a gift. We are His children with an identity that cannot be stolen.