From the Sermon “WHAT DEFINES ME?”

SERIES: Identity Crisis, p. 2

Day 1: You Are Not Your Worst Moment

Reading: Isaiah 43:1-2

Devotional: The world will try to stamp you by your worst moments, labeling you by situations and circumstances you’d rather forget. A failure here, a sin there, and suddenly we carry a name that was never meant to define us. Thankfully, Isaiah 43 opens with two of the most powerful words in Scripture: “but now.” God acknowledges the sin, the rebellion, the mess His people had gotten themselves into, and then He pivots. He speaks directly into their failure and says, “You are mine.” Not “you were mine before you failed.” Not “you could be mine again if you clean yourself up.” Right now, in the middle of it all, you are His. Any labels the world has placed on you aren’t from God. Let Him reclaim what has always belonged to Him.

Reflection: What label have you been carrying that God never placed on you? Spend time in prayer asking God to speak His name for you over the names others have given you.

Day 2: Created on Purpose, for a Purpose

Reading: Psalm 139:13-16

Devotional: Know this today: you were not an accident; you were assembled by God with a specific purpose in mind. God intentionally created you, and placed you on this earth right now, for this moment, with a specific goal in mind. Psalm 139 describes God knitting you together with His own hands, seeing every part of you before you drew a single breath, and writing out your days before any of them arrived. This means your life is not a rough draft. It is not a mistake waiting to be corrected. When God formed you, He had something specific in mind. Sin does not erase that purpose, it obscures it. Your sin wants to define you, but it cannot, because you were formed by God and, therefore, only God can define you. Purpose is not found by some internal search for “yourself”. It is found by simply returning and yielding to your Creator.

Reflection: In what areas of your life have you been trying to create your own purpose rather than surrendering to the one God designed for you?

Day 3: The Throne Room of Grace

Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16

Devotional: There is a deep human instinct that tells us we must earn our way back into God’s presence after we have failed. We approach Him groveling, half-expecting the door to be shut. But Hebrews 4:16 offers a jaw-dropping truth. It does not say we must approach God’s throne cautiously or reluctantly. It says to approach with confidence—boldness—because the very throne God occupies is built on grace. Grace is not a reward for the deserving. It is the gift given to those who know they do not deserve it. No matter what you’ve done, mercy and grace are waiting for you at the very throne room of God. The moment you walk through the door, you will find exactly what you need. God built His throne out of grace so you would never have to wonder if there was enough of it left for you. When sin increases, grace increases all the more. There’s always more than enough grace to cover every sin. If you feel like a failure today, there’s a place you can go–directly to the throne of God. And when you arrive, you’ll find grace to remove your shame and guilt, and remind you that you are a child of the King.

Reflection: What has kept you from approaching God boldly after a season of failure? How does understanding the nature of His throne change the way you come to Him?

Day 4: Stewards of Grace, Not Judges of Others

Reading: Matthew 6:14-15; 1 Peter 4:10

Devotional: Grace is sometimes referred to as receiving something we do not deserve. That is, we deserve punishment, but we receive forgiveness. We like this truth for ourselves, but sometimes it’s hard to watch someone else get something we feel they don’t’ deserve. We are more comfortable with judgement and justice than we are with grace. So, we welcome forgiveness for ourselves while quietly keeping a record of what others have done wrong. But 1 Peter 4:10 makes a striking claim—we are called to be faithful stewards of God’s grace. A steward does not own what he oversees; he distributes what belongs to someone else. The grace in your life was never yours to hoard. It was given to you so you could also distribute it to others. Jesus made this unmistakably clear in Matthew 6 by choosing to expand on only one line of the Lord’s Prayer—the line about forgiving others. If God has refused to define you by your worst moments, you no longer have the right to define anyone else by theirs.

Reflection: Who have you labeled by their worst moment? What would it look like to become a steward of grace toward that person this week?

Day 5: A New Name: Child of God

Reading: Romans 8:14-17

Devotional: Every label the world has ever placed on you—every name born out of failure, shame, or sin—is met with a single, overriding declaration from God: you are His child. Romans 8 describes this not as a casual arrangement but as a full legal adoption. You have been brought into the family with all the rights and inheritance of a blood born child. The Spirit within you confirms this truth when doubt tries to drown it out. You are no longer defined by what you have done. You are defined by what Jesus has done. His righteousness covers your wrongs. His name replaces every other name you have carried. You are not your past. You are not your failures. You are not the sum of your worst decisions. You are a child of the King, and that is the only identity that lasts.

Reflection: Take time today to write down the labels you have carried and, one by one, surrender them to God. Then write the words “Child of God” over all of them. Let that be the name you carry into this week.