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Identity by Performance


Some trends have become observable among believers, particularly among young ministers of the gospel. I dealt with one of the trends in my article - Identity by association. In this piece, I will deal with another major trend that needs to be addressed. You will agree with me that the primary calling of the believer is to be with the Lord and then He can send us on assignments as it pleases Him (Mk. 3:14). This implies that your identity cannot be defined by your performance in ministry but by how much you are dwelling in Him. Today however, there are believers who are beginning to measure their success or the success of their ministry by their ability to perform, this is what I refer to as identity by performance.

Your identity in Christ cannot be based on how well you can perform, but on that which God through Christ has already accomplished in your life, and the measure of your dwelling in Him. Your performance therefore doesn’t define your identity, neither is it necessarily a validation of your conformity to the image of the risen Christ. This may look pretty simple and basic, but it is the truth that will make you free from the pressures of performance in your life and ministry.

In the bible book of Judges Chapter 7, we read the story of Gideon, a mighty man of valour as the scriptures described him. He was instructed to reduce his congregation from 22000 to 300 men, but regardless of this reduction in number, God was still able to achieve what He desired with that small number. The lesson there is that your ability to gather crowd and move men doesn’t necessarily define your calling. To judge your identity by your performance will be a great mistake and the result of ignorance. Had Gideon done so, he would have judged wrongly and could have been discouraged, and would never have been referred to as a mighty man of valour.

While there is certainly no doubt that as you continue to faithfully dwell in Him, you will produce mighty works, bear in mind that you are not a “great man of God” because of the crowds you gather, or because there are various demonstrations of power and manifestations of the Spirit through you, neither are you a “small man of God” because you only pull small crowds or because there isn’t so much demonstration of power through your ministry. You also cannot validate your identity based on your number of preaching engagements, whether you get preaching engagements or not, the important thing is to stay on your assignment and remain diligent to fulfill God’s call on your life.

Refuse to allow people put you under undue pressure to produce certain works as a validation of your identity. If you define your identity by these things then you will have many troubles as God moves you through the various seasons of your life; infact you are likely to resist those seasons when they come, because seasons are different. When you clearly understand this, it will greatly help your perception, and how you relate with the assignment that God has called you to.


Some of these things appear to be basic but they are causing more problems than you can even imagine in the body of Christ. Many have fallen into the trap of trying to validate themselves by their performance in ministry, some others have concluded that perhaps they were not even called in the first place, because they tried to judge themselves by their performance. Let your self-esteem be intact, God will judge you only based on what He has called you and given you the ability to do. Keep things simple and in proper perspective as you continue to endeavor to fulfill God’s call upon your life – You are who you are primarily because of what God has done for you through Christ Jesus.

Shalom!



N.B
For questions on this subject and other subjects, kindly use the Prayer request/Testimony pane. You can also send me an email or reach me by Phone on +2348081249992

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