What Identifies You?

We are all identified in a number of ways. Every US citizen has a social security number assigned to them. Not only is each number a unique configuration, the nine digits also help identify you even more. The first three digits are an area number, most commonly the state in which the card was issued. The next two digits are a group number; these are not related to geography but instead to the order in which the numbers are assigned in each area. And the last four digits are the serial number which are assigned chronologically within each area and each group.

Not only are you identified by your social security number, you most likely have a driver’s license with a photograph, a passport, and maybe even an id badge issued by your employer. Military personnel have a military card, formally called a United States Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card. In college, I had a picture id that granted me certain rights and privileges as well as a food services card which gained me access to my college’s dining halls. Times have sure changed, back then, both those id cards had my social security number printed on them. These days, with the explosion of identity theft and security breaches, identification numbers are most often encrypted on a magnetic strip on the card rather than printed on its face.  

If you are a follower of Jesus, you might be identified as such in a number of ways. First, you probably professed your faith publicly in some fashion or another. Other things that could indicate your faith in Jesus are also things like church attendance, good works, kindness, daily Bible reading, and praying regularly. However, those things are also done by people who have not committed their lives to Jesus, so they really are not fail-safe identifiers.

Jesus gives us one marker that He says will identify Christ-followers to the world. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus was enjoying a meal and some private time with His guys The tension was a little high because had just dropped a bombshell – that one of them would soon betray him. After Judas had left the gathering, Jesus, just before giving the remaining eleven their marching orders (John chapters 14-17), offered them a “new” commandment, one that would identify them. Here is what we read in John 13:34-35 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So, today, in a world so filled with hatred, division, and false identifications, I ask you – what properly identifies you?

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