Mistaken Identity

My mother and aunt are twins, and I remember when I was young, I would always hear them recounting stories of their colleagues being angry with them because they had not responded to their greetings outside of the workplace. They each would have to explain that they were twins and that their sister would probably have been who they had greeted.

I too have been mistaken because people always think I look like someone they know. I have been told I have someone who looks like me in a few countries. And, I have even been mistaken on Zoom. Once a church brother called me after a morning prayer meeting and asked me if I was in the meeting writing in the chat. It wasn’t me. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a morning person. And what is a normal hour in the morning for someone just messes up my whole equilibrium, so I am rarely on for morning prayer meetings and if I am on, I would not have the mental capacity at that time to write in the chat. That was definitely a mistaken identity. This happened to Jesus as well.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Matthew 16:13-14

By this time many people had seen Jesus and the miracles He performed but still did not understand who He was. Even the people close to Him, and the scribes had a difficult time comprehending that He was the Messiah, God who left His glory to become a man to save man.

And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” Mark 3:20-22

His own family thought he was a bit crazy and the scribes who should have known the Scriptures well thought He was possessed by demons. They thought He was casting out demons by the rulers of the demons. Jesus reasoned with them asking, “How could Satan cast out Satan?” And He explained that a kingdom divided cannot stand. I wonder how often we as Christians may have misunderstood Jesus resulting in us mistaking His identity.

We often put our expectations on who we think who Jesus ought to be and what He should do because of our denominational doctrines, political persuasion and our own opinions. We often want to fit the Lord in our worldview, but this doesn’t work that way. Our unlimited God can’t fit into our small-minded limited boxed in views. We often forget that He is sovereign and so we should fear Him. Without the fear of the Lord, we cannot have the right perspective of Him.

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Deuteronomy 10:12-13

When we fear the Lord, then we will obey Him and be led by His Spirit. We will not walk by the flesh and expect Him to fulfill our fleshly desires. If we do this, we will face the consequences.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba,  Father.” Romans 8:13-15

The truth is we are all created by God, but we are not all His children. To be a child of God we will fear Him and not man, and we must be led by His Spirit and receive Jesus in our lives.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13

It is in Christ Jesus we become children of God through faith. This is when we are born again and we have a new identity in Christ. And Satan will question our new identity, just like when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness and said, “If you are the Son of God.” He wanted Jesus to disobey God, but Jesus was truly the Son of God and followed His Father’s Word. We too must not allow anyone to make us have a mistaken identity. If we know that we are truly children of God, then we will obey Him completely and walk in His ways.