Day 12: "What Is Your Identity?"

One August morning in 2006, students from Damascus, Watkins Mill, and Seneca Valley High Schools found themselves mixed together with a new shared identity: Clarksburg Coyotes. For most, this was an unwanted label that they were stuck with no matter how much they objected. Over time, some students adjusted better than others. The younger students seemed to adapt most quickly since they didn’t have as much invested in their previous identity. As the years passed, they learned to support and encourage each other as they shared new experiences. Although it wasn’t easy to merge such diverse backgrounds, the students adapted and accepted their new identity.

When Jesus was ready to create a special group of disciples, he faced a similar challenge. He called together a couple sets of brothers, several fisherman, a Zealot, a hated tax collector, and of course, a future traitor. They struggled to connect with each other as Jesus challenged them to accept a single identity: Christ Follower. At times they looked out for themselves, they argued over the meanings behind Jesus’ parables, they quarreled about who was the greatest in the kingdom, and wrestled with the idea of fairness when Jesus told them they might have to suffer for their faith. Needless to say, learning to live as a connected unit took time, patience, sacrifice, and lots of mutual trust.

Matthew tells us that on the night before he was crucified, “Jesus sat down at the table with the twelve disciples. While they were eating, he said, ‘The truth is, one of you will betray me.’ Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, ‘I’m not the one, am I Lord?’” (Matthew 24:20-22)

After three years, these individuals had become a unified group: The 12 Disciples, Christ Followers. This identity connected them at the deepest level. They couldn’t bear the thought of betraying the One who had labeled them as such. With the exception of one, these men could not imagine anything that would cause them to turn their back on their shared identity.

In the days that followed, these men would depend on each other to survive some very difficult trials. Individuals, left to fend for themselves, likely would have fallen away from Jesus when facing their circumstances; however, this unified group of men persevered with the support of each other and the One who connected them.

August 31, 2009 was a new day at Clarksburg High School. Each of the 1700 students across four grades have only known one identity: Clarksburg Coyote. The seniors, graduating class of 2010, were the freshmen at Clarksburg on that August morning in 2006. They, along with the rest of the student body, are Coyotes. They share a pride in their identity that goes with them all over town.

So, what is your identity? With whom do you share this identity? If you’re not sure how to answer that question, why not decide today to identify yourself as a Christ Follower, then find a group who shares that identity, to connect with.

~Brian Sunderly