Imagine there is a man in a local restaurant working as a dishwasher. It’s the job he’s done most of his life. He didn’t go to school, didn’t get married, didn’t do any of that. Unskilled, manual labor is pretty much all he’s known. One day, a well dressed man shows up at the restaurant and informs the man that he is actually the long lost brother of the king. And, the king wants him to come and join his royal court. Ecstatic, the man accepts the offer and moves into the palace with the king and the rest of the royal family. But, life as a noble is absolutely foreign to the man. Though he is of noble blood, he struggles to act like it.

Moving from spiritual deadness into spiritual life isn’t altogether different. Being a noble in the king’s court, as my friend pointed out, isn’t merely a title—it’s an identity. And, while we have a tendency to see our faith as title (i.e., now I’m a ‘Christian’) it is so much more than that. It’s an identity that runs as deep, deeper, than the very blood in our veins.

Like the dishwasher turned noble, we’ve spent a lifetime learning to live in one specific way. Now that we’re in the King’s palace and our true identity in Him is revealed, the identity of a man who doesn’t really exist persists.

Once the dishwasher fully accepts his real identity, his behavior will change. Christians have more than a title. We have a brand new identity in Christ. As we become more secure in that identity, the old behavior will begin to fade into memory and we’ll begin to act like members of the royal family we belong to.

Related posts:

1. A Palace In Its Place
2. Are We Just Strippers?
3. Moving Foreword Anyway