Being Built Up

Melissa Logsdon – October 9, 2023 1 Comment

Identity.

Oxford dictionary defines identity as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” and as defined by “a close similarity or affinity”.

How do you define your identity? Is it based on the facts of who you are as a person? Or by what others say or think about you, that may or may not be true? If you look at how similar you are to another person or group, do you then claim your identity based on that similarity? Is the way you define yourself helpful to you and others? Or in any way is it lacking in clearly defining the best and truest of your being?

And do we ever limit our identity by these ways of defining ourselves (both individually and corporately as the church), when God offers us a more complete, elevated way of speaking of our identity?

This past week, as we gathered for our leadership team meeting, we discussed Ephesians 2:19-22 (TPT) and what we could glean regarding our collective identity as followers of Jesus. 

“So, you are not foreigners or guests, but rather you are the children of the city of the holy ones, with all the rights as family members of the household of God.”

We are family.

“You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives have been built up together upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself!”

We are being built up together.

And Jesus is the cornerstone (the most important) of our “building”.

“This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself.” 

Much like the physical building we meet in, we are under construction!

And we are in process of continual growth and not complete yet.

“This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!”

In our connection to Jesus, we are individually and collectively, able to have full access to God’s presence, as we are declared “Holy of Holies”. 

How do these scriptures inform our identity? Does this change the way we see ourselves? Does this concept of being identified as people that God dwells within change how we see and relate to one another? 

For me, these are truths I “know” but so often forget in the everyday of life’s busyness. My prayer for myself and us all: May God remind us of the invitation into family and the mystery of us being built up together. May we define each other how God defines us: as holy places of God’s dwelling presence. And may these truths change the way we define ourselves.