The Christian Identity Crisis

I found myself in the unfortunate position of waiting for the family to finish shopping before Christmas and then again after Christmas. It’s quite amusing to see so many husbands and fathers sitting or standing outside almost every store at our busiest malls. But I was another one of them, I’ve gotten quite used to being the porter and often the backup financier of these shopping escapades for decades. But shopping has changed a bit over the years. We actually don’t even have to go out nowadays, but we still do. Everything is so customisable that where we once could only buy what was on offer, we can now customise things almost exactly as we want them.

It made me think of our faith experiences, our church communities, because people actually go looking for churches that suit them, it’s about what they want in a church rather than what I think is a more scriptural approach of being led by the Spirit to see how we could be best used in God’s Kingdom. Rather than saying what can this church offer me, we should have the attitude that says, where best might God use me to advance God’s kingdom. This customisable consumerism seems to have spilled into our church lives where we can fall into the trap of seeking teachers and preachers that will say what we want to hear.

This Sunday we are already four days into the New Year of 2026, and I pray that we continue to be unashamed of our identity as followers of Jesus, that we find comfort in His teachings and hope in His promises. One of the most important questions we might ask though is which Jesus are we actually following? Because many people and many religions have a completely different idea of Jesus than that which is presented in scripture. In fact they would often mould their idea of Jesus to suit their own views and perspectives, unfortunately if we ‘customise’ Jesus to suit us, that Jesus will have no power to save.

This is why the apostle John in our lectionary reading is explicit in ensuring that there can be no mistaking the identity of the true Jesus. If we get the identity of Jesus wrong, this has eternal consequences. Take a moment to read the opening 18 verses of the gospel of John and know that Jesus is the Word of God. As you read may your hearts and minds be opened to the true identity of our Lord Jesus.

May God bless you and may the word of God be a lamp unto your feet.

Josh