She overspends the credit card again. When confronted, she excuses her impulsive shopping: “That’s just who I am.” 

People explain away anger, unfaithfulness, porn, and even addiction with the excuse, “That’s just who I am.” That’s an identity crisis. Because no Christian’s identity is sin. “It is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:20).

Your identity is healthiest when you believe that what God says about you is absolutely true. Not the version of you that others see. Not even the image of yourself that you see.

“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’” (John 21:7).

If you were to ask John who he was, his answer would have focused on whose he was. 

In writing the book of the Bible that bears his name, the disciple John identifies himself as the one whom Jesus loved.

You are loved. No matter how little you believe it, how sinful you are, or how disappointed you are in God—you are loved. You can’t change who you are in the eyes of Jesus and the heart of God.

Loved. Hmm. Maybe that’s my new answer to people who ask, “How are you today?” 

“Loved.”

It would say a lot to them. And to me. I need that; don’t you?