Becoming Someone… or Living From Who I Already Am?
I’m not striving to become someone—I’m simply learning to see who I already am in Christ.
A Conversation About Identity, Growth, and the Finished Work of Christ
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
“You have put off the old self… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.” – Colossians 3:9–10
A Walk Through the Park After Sunday Service
Nicole:
I just want to be the kind of Christian who’s secure, consistent, joyful—you know, mature. It’s like I have this idea of who I should be by now, and I’m constantly falling short of her. I’m still becoming her, I guess… slowly.
Me:
Yeah, I know that mindset. I used to think Christian maturity meant climbing some internal ladder until I became “who I was supposed to be.” But then I realized—God didn’t call me to become someone new. He made me someone new the moment I trusted in Christ. The Christian life isn’t a self-improvement project—it’s living from a new identity I already have.
Nicole’s View: Identity Is the Outcome of a Faithful Life
Nicole frowns a little. “But doesn’t Scripture say we’re being transformed? I mean, Ephesians 4:13 talks about growing into the full stature of Christ. Philippians 3 says to press on toward the goal. And even Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 that he disciplines his body.”
She flips to a few verses:
Romans 12:2 – “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
2 Peter 3:18 – “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord…”
1 John 3:2 – “What we will be has not yet appeared…”
“I guess I’ve always thought identity was something I’d grow into—like, becoming the kind of person God wants me to be.”
My Response: Growth Doesn’t Earn Identity—It Reveals It
“I used to think that too,” I tell her. “But then I noticed something in the New Testament. Paul doesn’t say ‘try to be a new creation’—he says, ‘you ARE one’ (2 Cor. 5:17). He doesn’t say ‘strive to become God’s workmanship’—he says, ‘you ARE’ (Eph. 2:10). Identity isn’t a goal. It’s a gift.”
Nicole looks up. “So you’re saying I’m already who I’m trying to become?”
“Yes. In Christ, you’ve already been made righteous (Rom. 5:19), already been seated with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6), already been accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6). You’re not chasing an identity. You’re learning to live from the one you’ve already been given.”
Becoming vs. Believing: The Identity Shift
Nicole leans on the railing by the pond. “So where does growth fit in then?”
“Great question,” I reply. “We do grow—but we grow in the knowledge of who we already are. Colossians 3:10 says the new self is being renewed in knowledge. Not in essence—you’ve already been made new—but in your understanding of it. The more you believe what God has done, the more your actions begin to reflect it.”
“Growth isn’t earning a new identity,” I add. “It’s expressing the one that’s already yours in Christ.”
A Grace-Oriented Appeal
You don’t have to strive to become a better version of yourself.
You don’t have to chase after a future identity, hoping one day to arrive.
In Christ, you already are a new creation. You’ve been made righteous. You’ve been joined to the life of Jesus. You are holy, blameless, and deeply loved—not because of what you’ve done, but because of what He did.
So today, stop asking, “When will I finally become the Christian I’m meant to be?”
Start resting in the truth: “I already am, in Him—and now I get to walk that out, step by step.”
Photo Credit: Image sourced from Unsplash.com