Several years ago while working as a Policy Advisor for an elected official, I was informed by a concerned constituent of an alarming trend that was gaining popularity around the world.


The trend that I am speaking of is the crime of Identity Theft. Identity Theft is the act of assuming another person’s identity for the purpose of personal gain whether financial or otherwise.

As this person assumes another’s identity they bear all the marks of the one whose identity they have stolen. Identity theft in this sense is wrong and should therefore be avoided by all. But now let me tell you about one Person’s identity of whom it is not illegal for us to assume.

For on the night our Lord was betrayed He girded himself with a cloth, knelt down on the ground and began to wash the coarse, filthy feet of His disciples. He then makes an astonishing demand of them.

Jesus says to His disciples, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet, for I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done unto you” (John 13:14-15) .

This cleansing of their feet was to symbolize what Jesus would do for them and the rest of humanity by cleansing our coarse filthy hearts on the Cross of Calvary.

In this saying Jesus is commanding His disciples to assume His identity, in name and in deed, and to love and serve others as He Himself had just done for them.

And since Jesus commands us to assume His identity through humble servanthood, our assuming of His identity is not theft at all but our birthright as those who have been born again of the Holy Spirit.

In Galatians 2:20 Paul the Apostle writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”

Dear saint I can assure you that you will not be punished for assuming the identity of Christ in humble service unto the coarse and filthy of this earth but you will be personally rewarded for your obedience by the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings Himself.

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