For most of my life, people have spelled my last name wrong.  Teachers, employers, friends, and even girlfriends have spelled my name wrong in the past.  I've had to look people in the eye and say, “that's not my name”.  The other day one of my best friends sent me a text that was supposed to be a funny joke.  In the text my last name was spelled incorrectly.  I responsed to the text, “that would be hilarious, if that was my name”.  Since my name wasn't spelled correctly, I didn't consider the joke a valid one.  Regardless of the joke he was making, and knowing that it was about me, I wouldn't accept it because I know what my name is and in this case, how it's spelled.  I haven't always been that way.  I know that was a lighthearted story, but it speaks to a piece of the progress I've made in my life.

     I dated a girl once that used to trash me with her words.   As hard as I tried, I couldn't put up a defense against the things she would say to me.  Her words would negatively break me down to the core of who I was.  Her words, coupled with my own apathy towards my relationship with God, caused me to begin believing her words were truth.  Not only that, but I began living the very words she said.  My behavior changed because I believed things about myself, that in fact, were never true of who I was.  My identity began to be found in the words she would say about me and not in the words God said about me.  Looking back, I don't blame her at all.  I learned a lot due to that relationship, and I truly am Better Because I was in it.  It allowed me to see myself in a light I had never seen myself in before and showed me the effect of being apathetic in my journey with Christ. 

     Not knowing or understanding who you are in Christ can cause a lot of unnecessary pain in your life.  God says a lot about who he created us to be and it's all in His word waiting for us all to take hold of it.  It's our job to know and protect our identity.  Like with the joke my friend tried to make, I didn't validate his joke because I knew my name and what he spelled was not it.  For Christians, our identity should only be found in the one who created us! I once heard a phrase, "if something isn't working right, the best way to get it fixed is to take it back to the one who made it because he knows EXACTLY how it's supposed to work”.  Same with us, we go to the one who created us, because He knows exactly how we are supposed to function.  People will always say what they want.  Often they hone in on one or two mistakes you've made and try to define you by those.  Now, when that day comes and someone tries to define you in a way that doesn't line up with what God’s word says about you, you can look them in the eye and say, "that's not my name" and keep it moving!