Relating to God by finding one’s identity in Christ
In 1956, Elisabeth Elliot received the kind of news that shatters a human life. Her husband, Jim Elliot, along with four other missionaries, had been speared to death while attempting to bring the gospel to the Huaorani people of Ecuador. Elisabeth was left a widow at twenty-nine, with a ten-month-old daughter and a future suddenly cloaked in grief. Yet what stands out in her life is not simply the tragedy she endured, but the identity she lived from. In her journals she wrote, “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” Her sense of self was not anchored in being a wife, a mother, a missionary, or even a widow. It was anchored in union with Christ, who He is, what He has done, and who she was in Him.
Rather than retreat, Elisabeth returned to live among the very tribe that killed her husband. Not because she was superhuman, but because her identity was not powered by emotion, achievement, or earthly security. It was grounded in Christ’s presence. She spoke often of the freedom that comes from surrendering the question, “Who am I?” to the larger truth of “Whose am I?” Her life illustrates what Jesus teaches His disciples in John 15: “Abide in Me, and I in you… for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5). To abide in Christ is to locate the deepest core of your identity not in your successes, failures, roles, or wounds, but in the One who holds your life. Likewise, Paul reminds believers that their lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3), and that they are “ a new creation” in Him (2 Cor. 5:17).
Elisabeth Elliot’s story invites us to step out of the confusion, instability, and self-constructed identities that so often shape our lives. Her example calls us back to the steady, anchoring reality of who we are because we belong to Christ. To live in that truth, we must grasp what theologians have long called “double knowledge”, the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self, an idea central to true discipleship. In his classic work Knowing God, J. I. Packer uses an illustration to illuminate this need. He describes how cruel it would be to drop an Amazonian tribesman into the middle of Trafalgar Square and expect him to navigate life there.
The analogy serves as a stark reminder that we, too, are lost and overwhelmed when we attempt to live in God’s world without truly knowing the God who made it. Packer writes, “We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God.”Abiding in in Christ and finding our identity in Him must be the most consistent thing we do as believers, consciously, subconsciously, our entire reality must be so enraptured by the grace, the mercy, the goodness, and the love of God that we live with complete boldness and freedom knowing that His words are true, that he is sovereign, that he is mighty, and that he has promised to be with us always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). But what does it look like to live like this? What does it mean to abide, to be enraptured by God in all aspects of our lives?
Practical application
Growing up in Nicaragua, whenever someone asked, “Cómo estás?” I would instinctively respond, “Bien, gracias a Dios” -“I’m doing well, thanks to God.” It was simply part of our common vernacular. How are you? Fine, thanks to God. Did you finish your homework? Yes, thanks to God. Did you make it on time? Yes, thanks to God. Those three words “gracias a Dios” were attached to nearly every mundane response. Over time, they became a colloquialism so familiar that they gradually lost their meaning.
I never realized how automatic this habit was until I moved to the United States, where ending every answer with “thanks to God” felt unnatural and even out of place. But as I reflected on it, I realized something deeper: even though I said those words constantly, I was not actually abiding in Christ or living in conscious submission to Him in my daily reality. My words were a reflex, not a reflection of my heart.
This contrast reminded me that abiding in Christ, and rooting our identity in Him, is not something that happens accidentally or by cultural habit. It requires intention, attentiveness, and regular reorientation. Gratitude is certainly one meaningful way we abide and anchor our identity in Christ, but it is only one part of a much larger spiritual posture. Abiding asks more of us: a continual turning of the heart toward Christ, a daily remembering of who we are in Him, and a deliberate weaving of His truth into the ordinary rhythms of life.
Gratitude:
Gratitude is one of the simplest and yet most transformative practices for anchoring our identity in Christ. When we intentionally recognize that everything we have, our breath, our relationships, our strength, our spiritual gifts, and above all, our salvation, comes from God’s gracious hand, we are reoriented away from self-reliance and toward dependence. Gratitude awakens humility. It trains the heart to say, “Nothing I have is self-made; all of it is grace.” When Paul writes, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7), he dismantles any illusion that our identity is built on our own accomplishments or performance. Gratitude keeps us tethered to the truth that we belong to Christ because He first loved us, not because we climbed our way toward Him. When we consciously practice gratitude, especially for the miracle of our redemption, our souls learn to rest in the identity Christ has given us rather than the identities we try to construct for ourselves.
Christian Living:
Abiding in Christ means allowing the life of Christ to flow through us in tangible, observable ways. The Christian life is not merely a belief system, it is a way of being shaped by the character of God Himself. When we practice generosity, kindness, patience, forgiveness, hospitality, and grace, we embody the very attributes God has revealed about Himself. These acts are not moralistic self-improvement; they are the fruit of abiding. Jesus said, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). The life of Christ produces the fruit of Christ. As we imitate Him, seeking to reflect His compassion toward the vulnerable, His mercy toward sinners, His gentleness toward the weak, and His truthfulness in love, we are formed into His likeness. In practicing Christlike character, we actively reaffirm that our identity is not in what we achieve, but in the One we follow.
Preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily:
One of the most vital habits for abiding in Christ is the daily rehearsal of the gospel to our own hearts. We are forgetful people, prone to drift toward performance, shame, pride, or despair. When we intentionally remind ourselves of who we once were, dead in sin, enslaved to the flesh, without hope, and who we now are in Christ, beloved, forgiven, adopted, redeemed, and made new, our identity is stabilized. Paul consistently calls believers to remember their former condition (Eph. 2:1–6) not to shame them, but to anchor them in grace. The gospel tells us that our identity is not rooted in our past failures, our present struggles, or our future goals, but in the finished work of Jesus. Preaching the gospel to ourselves daily confronts the lies we are tempted to believe and replaces them with the truth of God’s love and acceptance. This practice strengthens our assurance, fuels obedience, and deepens our union with Christ.
Elisabeth Elliot’s life stands as a quiet but profound testimony to what it means to abide in Christ. Her identity was not anchored in the shifting tides of tragedy, calling, or circumstance, but in the unwavering reality that she belonged to Jesus. After losing her husband to violence, stepping into the very tribe that took his life, raising her child alone, and persevering through decades of ministry marked by both beauty and suffering, Elliot did not build her life on her own strength. She built it on Christ.
Like Elliot, we will all face seasons where our self-constructed identities crumble, where what we do, what we achieve, and what others think of us cannot sustain us. But when our lives are rooted in Christ, we possess an identity that suffering cannot erode, sin cannot undo, and circumstances cannot redefine. Gratitude, Christlike living, and preaching the gospel to ourselves daily are not small habits; they are the trellises that support a life that abides.
Her story calls us to remember this simple truth: who we are is grounded not in our performance, but in our union with Christ. When we learn to live from that place, we begin to experience the freedom, steadiness, and purpose God intends for His disciples. May we, like Elisabeth Elliot, learn to rest our whole selves in the One who holds our identity secure.
Discussion Questions:
Where do you most often look for a sense of identity, your abilities, relationships, accomplishments, or failures?
Which of the three practices: gratitude, Christlike living, or preaching the gospel to yourself. feels most natural to you?
How does understanding “double knowledge” (knowledge of God and knowledge of self) help you relate more deeply to your identity in Christ?
In what ways do you sense God inviting you to abide more intentionally in Him this week? Is there a specific habit or daily moment that could help?
