Who am I… as a Christian?

As a Bible-believing Christian, this topic could be endless.

Under the banner of Christianity,  I am a number of things:

• a sinner (Romans 3:23)
• lost without Christ (John 14:6)
• redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:13-14)
• God’s child (John 1:12)
• bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:19)
• a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
• God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

The list goes on. But what does that mean for me as an individual?

I read God’s Plans For You by J. I. Packer in the hopes that I’d get some kind of divine revelation as to who I’m supposed to be. Nothing of the sort happened. Although I did gain some further insight as to what kind of individual God wants me to be.

An erroneous thought circulating in Christian circles is that, above all things, God wants us all to be happy. Above all things, God wants Christians to be holy. Achieving that apart from the guidance of the Holy Spirit is no easy task. What does the pursuit of holiness mean? (Another good book for me to read.) It means going after the things that are pleasing to God and pursuing the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Here’s where God has led me in my Christianity so far:

• To a reformed (Calvinistic) view of Christian faith
• To a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America)
• To regular weekly Bible studies with women in my church
• To form godly, female friendships with women in my church and over the Internet

That’s about as individual as it gets right now. There’s nothing profound or earth-shattering in this post. It’s simply an attempt to get me to figure out who I am as a Christian.