Musings

Temptation, Behavior and Identity

Some very random thoughts.

In the minds of many and in the perception of the world, our identity is tied to our basic drives and responses.  When we meet people we tend to start with two basic questions, “Where do you life?” and “What do you do?”

For many their identity is tied to their employment.  This causes a number of issues.

  • What if you don’t like what you are doing?
  • What if you are not fulfilled in what you do?

So, at times we get our identity from the wrong things.

But we also seem to label people based on the wrong identifiers.  We too often do it by what we deem as “weaknesses” or by “disorder” or by their “failure” rather than as individuals.

  • They are an alcoholic
  • They are divorced
  • They are emotional

But there is a difference between temptation, behavior and identity.  We have choices. We do not have to simple BE what we fight to yield to.  We do not simply have to BE what we are told we are.  We do not simply have to BE what we have always been.

There is no need for temptation, behavior and identify to be a simple addition problem:  Temptation + Behavior = Identity.

It should actually be in reverse.  The right identity determines direction, destination and destiny.

Our identity–In Christ

  • We are His when we trust in Him
  • We are valued and cared for by Him
  • We are positionally saints and will be eternally saints
  • We are His hands, arms, feet in His creation and in our community

Our temptations or our “weaknesses”–external and internal causes

Those things which so often repeatedly trip us up: anger, judgmentalness, complaining, coveting, greed, lying, self-protection, selfishness, impure thoughts, etc., but, which as new creatures do not have to define us and do not have to result in control leading to wrong behavior.

Our behavior–as a response to who we are–should be related to heart issues, not just activities

So, when we understand our identity and understand that though we have “weaknesses” and areas of temptation–what we need to work on is not just change our behavior, but understanding our identity and change our heart.

Real change and transformation are the result of heart change not behavior change, and this based on understanding who we are in Christ.

Author: Steve

I love to study the Bible and I love to engage with others in learning. I had been privileged to do this on a regular basis through church ministry and through part-time teaching at a local Bible colleges. Helping individuals learn to feed themselves through their own study of God’s Word is joy-giving to me. Influencing groups to do life and church from a biblically grounded, theologically faithful perspective is my passion.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.