Who told you who you are?

Because if it’s not God…you’ve been listening to the wrong voice.

The devil has a very thin playbook.

His first move? Attack your identity.

He did it in Genesis. He tried it on Jesus in the desert—every single temptation starting with the words, "If you are the Son of God..."

He was trying to shake Jesus' sense of who he was. Because here's the thing: as we see ourselves, so we feel. So we act. So our entire life pans out.

If he gets your identity, he gets everything.

And he tries it with you. Through your worst sins — making you think you are the thing you did. Through the voices of people who were supposed to love you better than they did. Through tragedies that leave you convinced the joys of life just aren't for you.

Here's my question for you this Lent: Who —or what—have you given permission to name you?

Your bank account? Your worst mistake? What someone said about you years ago?

Take that permission back. Give it to Almighty God. Do what Jesus did in the desert: talk back. Preach the truth of who you are. You are a beloved child of Almighty God.

And from the cross, he looks at you and says: You are worth dying for.

Claim that. Live from it.

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