I am up late these nights. Mostly flipping through the channels as I am to worn out to think straight enough to write well or read well, but not worn out enough to have my mind become inactive enough to fall asleep. I know, this is something that doctor’s can fix. I am on it, believe me…

Last night (actually early this morning) I happened to see a commercial putting forth identity theft prevention techhiques around 1:30am. This commercial brought me back to a not so fond memory of when my wife and I had our identity taken. We spent months, almost an entire year, working with the banks and creditors to fix the problem. I can’t remember all of what the lady who borrowed our identity spent our money on but it was random things like, Dell computers (which brought unspeakable disgust since I have only owned Apple computers for some time now), a TV, some groceries, Aerosmith concert tickets, etc. I confess it feels funny when someone robs your identity and then uses your life to amplify or elevate their life.

I think there are times when we do this to Jesus. I think we may be guilty every now and then (or perhaps even more often than that) of using Jesus to amplify our life. We have behaved or currently behave fraudulently and we misappropriate Jesus in order to create a phony persona that we stand behind in order to be right, relevant, etc. There might be good reason for us to be classified as identity takers.

I realize that the teachings, miracles, deeds, etc, of Jesus that we have recorded for us in the Gospels were illustrations for us to replicate and imitate — to make our own or to live out … so that we might reveal to all of humanity that God is working to restore the world back to its original intent and condition. However, this is not be done fraudulently or even in order to amplify our own personal life. This imitation of Jesus is not to allow us to live a better life, to make us feel good about ourselves, to help us rest in what is right and true in a world that is wrong and false, etc. To the contrary, to illustrate Jesus is to bring amplification to who he is, not who we think we are or even what we think others should be.

We steal the Identity of Jesus when…

• We use His teaching and claims where we see fit and where it helps us not necessarily where he intended them to be used therefore making them out of context.
• We make theological assertions of what we know in order to hide behind what we don’t know.
• We put Him in our pocket and “bring him along for the ride” instead of surrendering and disciplining ourselves to be led by him.
• We tag Him as our friend and forget or intentionally ignore that he is our King. So we end up doing life with him instead of to honor him.
• We become so familiar with who he is “after all these years of study” that we spend more time telling people who the “real” Jesus is instead of seeking to become like the real Jesus.
• We put our phony persona forward as opposed to our real self and consequently can never really be who we are or who He wants us to become.
• We state that working for him is our undeniable calling when really it might be just an undeniable convenience.
• We seek to build into His Kingdom our own pet preferences and opinions rather than seeking to reveal or expose it for what it is fully capable of being about on its own.
• We read His red letters like it is some kind of collection of self-help slogans instead of fundamental precepts fit to come only from a King.
• We play “the Jesus card” on someone to excuse our bad behavior or real but impure motives.

In what other areas of life might we be convicted of stealing the identity of Jesus?

I think it is of utmost importance that as we shepherd our students and leaders amidst the daily priorities of our individual youth ministry’s that we work hard to help people understand that stealing the identity of Jesus is a dereliction of our role as agents of God’s restoration and love. We don’t shepherd well when the people around us find it appropriate to misuse and abuse Jesus for the sake of amplifying or enhancing their own lives — regardless of how tempting it may be to make Jesus fit or work for the times.

To that end, we ought to seek to find ways to more effectively help our students die to self by taking up their cross and subsequently living out the identity (characteristics, virtues, etc.) of Jesus instead of stealing it. The goal of this Christian life isn’t to enhance our own lives but to join in the activity of God by revealing who Jesus is through our life in order that others might recognize who we belong to and who we are loved by.

Are we inspiring, challenging and equipping a generation of students to steal the identity of Jesus or reveal the identity of Jesus?