“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
When people ask, “who are you?”, what is your response? How do you identify yourself? Do you define yourself by your name, your family (I am a husband/wife or father/mother), your career (I am a doctor, salesman, etc.), your hobbies (I am a musician, artist, athlete), your politics (I am liberal or conservative), or your faith in Christ? It’s an important question that we all must be ready to answer when it’s asked of us. How we identify ourselves tells people what is truly important about our life and who we are.
The rock group, The Who, wrote a song about it back in the 1960’s, asking the question, “Who Are You?” This song was popular at the time but gained even greater popularity when it became the theme song for the television show, CSI: Las Vegas, a forensic crime drama about determining the identity of a deceased person and their cause of death.
God created every human being as a distinct, unique person. We have unique DNA and fingerprints. No two people are exactly alike, even if they look alike, such as twins. This is the essence of our legal and criminal justice system and how victims and criminals are identified uniquely and not solely on the basis of appearance or witness testimony.
Unfortunately, we currently live in a world that now wants to label people according to their appearance and group affiliation. The world wants to identify people by their race, skin color, ethnicity, wealth, sexual preference, and political affiliation, just to name the most common. People are grouped together so that they can be “labeled” and treated according to their group affiliation and not their individual value, uniqueness, or character.
Here in the USA, we have had a sad history of treating people based on labels and stereotypes. And in my lifetime, we have made tremendous progress on removing these labels and trying to accept all Americans based on their value and worth as individuals. I still remember watching Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the mall in Washington, DC in 1963 where he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” I doubt if he would be pleased today to see how in the past few years we have gone back to judging people based on their skin color instead of their character.
I believe that our nation is destroying itself from within, and that Satan is using elements of our society to push the Marxist tactic of “labeling” the enemies of the State in order to consolidate political power and force their ideology on all Americans. They want to eliminate political opposition, remove freedom of speech, and draw people away from God to worship the State. And it all begins with labeling people according to groups instead of valuing them as unique individuals and allowing for individual freedom. And while it appears to be more political on the surface, in reality this is spiritual warfare as identified by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:12 where he wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
So, what are we to do as American Christians to combat this menace to our nation and our freedom? I believe there are 3 things that we can, and must, do.
First, we must recognize this as spiritual warfare, and not just political posturing. We must “hate what is evil and cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). We need to understand how Satan works and rebuke him when we encounter evil. We also need to understand the ideology of Marxism and that it is inherently anti-God. They want to destroy the family, eliminate freedom of speech, eliminate religion, and force people to acquiesce to the State in all matters (Exodus 20:3).
Second, we must “peel off the labels” that society puts on people and refuse to stereotype and group people according to outward appearances or racial differences. This is what the Nazi’s and the Japanese did in World War II, and it resulted in the murder of more than 12 million people! There is only one race – the human race! And when we mistreat others based on their skin color, ethnicity, or religion that is different from ours, we are ignoring God’s call to humility and respect for others (Philippians 2:3-4).
Third, we must lift up the individual based on their own individual character and merit. We must see other people as God sees them, as humans created in His image (Genesis 1:27) and as sinful people in need of Jesus as their Savior (John 3:16). The State does not value the individual nor seek to save people. Instead, they only seek to enslave and control them!
So, who are you? Do you identify yourself as a child of God? Do you acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a Savior? Do you value others as God does, and look at their character instead of their outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7)? If Christ truly lives in us, then we must identify ourselves as His disciple. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
If we want to change our society or our nation, we must begin with ourselves. As Christians, we must be the ones to become Jesus to others. We must “peel off the labels” from others and treat them as we would want to be treated (Luke 6:31). When we do that, we glorify God, we honor His creation, and we show the world a better way!