I have struggled with how to start this post. For those that know me, you know I work best just saying the thing. So here it is: we all struggle with having a healthy sense of identity. The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately about the relationship between identity, calling, and authority. Have you ever thought about this? Your calling is not your identity, and your authority is dependent upon your identity, not your calling. Let me break this down…

Calling

When we talk about a calling we are talking about the thing that, no matter the ups or downs, we are supposed to do with our lives. We perceive this to be the reason why we are here on this earth. To be a Pastor, I firmly believe God has to call you, but this really goes for anything. I can say confidently that pastoring is my calling, but if that calling became my identity, abuse and worse would happen. A pastor who lets his calling and authority influence his identity becomes dependent upon having a crowd and out of that, man attempts to build the church. But Jesus is the only qualified church builder. For the many of you who are in other vocations outside of pastoring, you can still easily confuse your calling by claiming it as your identity.

Authority

We would all attest that God has given Pastors a layer of spiritual authority and we would say that this authority carries a heavier burdens than others. But authority is NOT GIVEN BY MAN, only by God. God gives us authority and it is like a garden that we tend; it is not our identity. Be it pastoring or whatever the calling God has placed before you, listen to Him and inside the calling God has on your life is always the promise of “I will be with you”. We need to see authority as something that is given by God in the form of His very presence. The presence of God in my life gives me authority. When I am nothing and He is everything, I have the greatest authority.

Identity

This one is tricky! Paul talks about it a lot in Romans 7:

17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

You see, I was born into an identity with sin as my king. Then, at a young age, God to set me free from for this false kingdom of sin and took the throne of my life. I now have an old identity and a new one all at the same time. Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 5

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

This new identity is ONLY from God. Out of that new identity, God gives us a calling and authority. This is a very important order here that even many Pastors (myself included) miss or can lose sight of.

Identity is only found in my intimate time with the Father. I am who He says I am. Yet I think we often fall victim to this lie: “I am what He tells me to do”. We see this when we are controlling or abusive. We begin to use people to accomplish our calling and hide behind our authority. We chalk it up to “I have to do what God said for me to do.” Of course there are times where we are called to do something with relentlessness, but if those things hurt the people of God, we need to walk through the following process:

pause - Surrender my time, will, agenda, opinions, hurts, wounds and offenses to just listen to Him

belong - when we pause God always responds with a reminder of our identity in Him

respond - Once we are surrendered and our identity is clearly re-established, God then gifts us with calling and authority.

The hardest thing here is the pause. In the pause, I have no authority, my calling doesn’t matter, and His identity is the focus not my own. When I pause, I am surrendering my agenda to listen to His. When I pause I am saying what He has to say is more important than what I have to do. Death brings a pause. I die daily to my old identity and when I listen to Him He reminds me of my new identity. I love that the previous passage starts with FROM NOW ON. When you just read that phrase, you sang the Greatest Showman tune, didn’t you!?!? Oddly enough, there is something the Holy Spirit has used in that musical that Wolverine is in. It is a powerful song about remembering the “why” of who I am. Read this verse:

“From Now On”

I drank champagne with kings and queens
The politicians praised my name
But those are someone else's dreams
The pitfalls of the man I became
For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for

Songwriters: Benj Pasek / Justin N. Paul

From Now On lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Fox Music, Inc

Our identity must be the foundation of our calling and in that God gives us the authority. No longer should we hold anything above the identity we are in Jesus. Calling and authority can change, even if fear tells us it doesn’t. But my identity is immovable and unchanging; when fear tells me otherwise, I step into my calling and authority to destroy those lies. My name is Ryan Mullins. I am a child of the King of Kings. I attempt to humbly pastor in the authority of walking in step with my Savior. My identity in Christ is given by Him. My calling is wrapped up in daily acts of obedience. My authority is God’s blessing built upon my identity and calling.