Your Work Is Not Your Identity

Your identity (who you are) is defined by God, not by you.  If you are a Christian, your identity is In Christ, and you are defined by God as “a chosen, adopted child of God; sinful, but declared innocent, holy and blameless; radically and irrevocably loved by God.”  Work is not your identity.  To think your identity is in your work is both contrary to Scripture, and is emotionally unhealthy.  While work is not your identity, your work is very important to God.  The Bible has a lot to say about our work, and can be summarized in six points:  1. God works, so work is good.  2. Man is created in God’s image, so man works too.  3. God gave us work as a blessing and a gift. 4. We work in partnership with God to provide for mankind.  5. We work for Jesus, not for men. 6. God is glorified when we do our work well.  How do we do our work well?  By following biblical commands about work, e.g., commands found in 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Titus 2:9-10, Colossians 3:22-4:6 and Ephesians 6:5-9