Where Does Your Identity Come From

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from John 12:1, ” Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus raised from the dead. “

Background

Corbin, KY is the birthplace of what came to be known as Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was there in 1932 that Harland Sanders first served his chicken at the Sanders Café. In Scottsboro, AL, your lost luggage gets a second lease on life at the Unclaimed Baggage Center, where 0.5% of all domestic bags have their journey end after the airlines complete their three-month trace in search of the owner of the bags. If you travel to Riverside, IA, you will in a sense be experiencing a piece of the future. It is there on March 22, 2228 that James T. Kirk, the captain of the Starship Enterprise , will be born. Up in Punxsutawney, PA, the residents have been basing their weather expectations on a groundhog ever since that first February 2nd back in 1887. Haleyville, AL is on record as the location of the first 9-1-1 phone call, Holyoke, MA claims to be the birthplace of volleyball, and Claxton, GA is home to the Georgia Fruit Cake Company, makers of that legendary fruit cake that shows up every Christmas. These small towns place some of their identity on the uniqueness surrounding their place in American culture. Welcome signs at the edge of town, or plaques adjacent to the actual site, let the visitor know something about what the people are proud of and hold dear.

Application

As a traveler came upon Bethany in the first century, they could have encountered a sign boasting of the home of Lazarus, the man who was raised from the dead. Certainly that part of his story was noteworthy enough to create a level of celebrity and notoriety. There must have been those who would have been willing to pass through Bethany just to see him. But I’m guessing that sign didn’t exist. I’m also guessing that Lazarus didn’t spend much time on social media telling his story. There may be something about you that you are tempted to be about. You may cling to something from your past, find worth or identity in your present, or place hope in the future. If so, take a step away from that label and towards Christ. No longer be about the things that should not define you.

Charge

As we seek Him today, stop living in the past or clinging too tightly to the temporal, and let your identity be in Jesus.