Have you ever heard that the things you most want to hide and cover up are probably the things you most need to share with others? Each of us has a story and I’m willing to bet it involves some sort of struggle. Probably a struggle you’d like to forget and hope everyone else does, thankyouverymuch.

I don’t know about you, but it’s so easy for me to believe that I am my struggle. I am my problem. I am my past mistakes.

The truth is that I’m not. My sins aren’t my identity. My identity isn’t a circumstance I’m in or something I’m fighting against. My identity is in Christ. That is why I can be open about the things I mess up. The mistakes I want to hide. The many ways I fail.

I’m not the sum of my weaknesses or my strengths. I’m not my success and thank goodness I’m not my failures (because I have a lot of those… all the time!). I am a child of God.

It’s so easy to forget my true identity. Why? Satan wants me to think I am made up of every past mistake, every secret, each thing I wish nobody knew about me.

My life nutrition label according to satan would be like: 5% success, 25% failures, 50% mistakes, and 20% secrets. The ingredient list of my life would say: mistakes, sin, sin, more sin, selfishness, and plenty of unbecoming characteristics.

That all adds up to the “s” word: shame. What does shame do? It makes us hide. Remember Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? They sinned, felt shame, and hid from God.

We aren’t defined by the things we’ve done. The sins we wish nobody knew about. The past we want to hide. We’re defined by what Jesus has done for us. This is why the Resurrection of Christ, or Easter, is so important to Christians.

Jesus defeated death and sin. The darkest, worst thing that we’ve done is nothing compared to His victory. His forgiveness. His love.

Here’s to sharing all Jesus has done for me. Here’s to knowing deep in my soul that my failures aren’t more powerful than my Savior. Here’s to living for Him because He died for me.