Michael Reeves: What Is My Identity?

Devotional

Day 1: Beloved Dust, Eternal Image

Adam’s rib cage rose and fell with divine breath. God scooped dust, sculpted limbs, then pressed His lips to earth’s clay. “Image-bearer,” He declared. Not a product of chaos, but a portrait of the Triune God—male and female hands mirroring Creator-King to steward creation. Your navel still whispers this truth: you did not shape yourself. [12:17]

To be human is to be a walking altar—where heaven’s glory and earth’s dust meet. Atheists rage at this duality, preferring flat biology. But Genesis roots us: we reflect God’s care through dominion, His joy through creativity, His love through gendered communion.

When you scrub dishes or file reports today, remember—your labor images the Gardener who shaped Eden. How might your hands reflect His creative care today?

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God for the fingerprints He left on your DNA.
Challenge: Trace your navel with your finger; whisper “I am His craftsmanship.”

Day 2: Snake Oil and Stolen Fruit

The serpent hissed upgrades. “Become gods,” it promised Eve, dangling self-authorship like a shiny apple. Adam bit, trading royal robes for fig leaves. Their teeth marks still scar us—we gnaw at constraints, craving to edit our Maker’s code. [03:26]

Satan’s lie never changes: “Self-definition equals freedom.” But Eden’s children now wander malls and apps, hollowed by endless rebrands. Twitter bios mutate; surgical masks hide our hunger. Only in Christ do we relearn our name—not self-made, but God-spoken.

What fig leaf identity have you stitched together? Achievement? Trauma? Politics?

“You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”
(Genesis 3:3, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one way you’ve tried to “self-improve” apart from Christ.
Challenge: Delete one social media post that misrepresents who God says you are.

Day 3: The Second Adam’s Blueprint

Carpenter hands—calloused from planing wood—healed lepers. Christ, the exact imprint of God’s nature, walked fault lines between divinity and dust. Where Adam’s portrait smeared, Jesus redrew humanity’s original blueprint in His resurrection. [19:14]

Colossians reveals this cosmic restoration: Christ is both Creator and Re-Creator. Your salvation isn’t self-help—it’s surgical. He doesn’t enhance your old self; He engraves His likeness into your marrow. You become what He is: beloved Son.

Are you trying to touch up a fading self-portrait, or letting Him repaint you?

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
(Colossians 1:15, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to show you one area He’s restoring to God’s original design.
Challenge: Sketch a simple cross on your wrist; when you see it, say “His image, not mine.”

Day 4: Probus and the Unshakable Name

Roman torturers stretched Probus’ joints, demanding he renounce Christ. “Men call me Probus,” he gasped. “My real name is Christian.” His identity wasn’t self-chosen—it was branded by baptismal waters. [34:25]

You wear Christ’s name like a crown grafted to your skull. Not “LGBTQ+” or “conservative” or “entrepreneur”—those are costumes. Christian—little Christ—is your bone structure. The world can’t make you; it can only mine who you already are.

What secondary label have you allowed to compete with “Christian”?

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
(Galatians 2:20, ESV)

Prayer: Repeat “Christian” three times slowly, feeling its weight on your tongue.
Challenge: Introduce yourself to someone today as “a follower of Jesus” before stating your job.

Day 5: Navels and New Bodies

Your navel—a wrinkled reminder—proclaims “I was knit.” But resurrection awaits. One morning, you’ll wake scarless, your belly smooth as Eden’s clay. Until then, the Spirit groans, chiseling Christ’s profile into your jagged edges. [40:08]

Romans 8 guarantees it: God won’t abandon His artwork. Your stretch marks, anxieties, and secret shames will melt like wax under His gaze. You’ll stand complete—not a self-made statue, but a God-breathed icon radiating uncreated light.

What broken part of your self-image needs this hope today?

“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
(Romans 8:30, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God your future glory relies on His faithfulness, not your performance.
Challenge: Write “Romans 8:30” on a mirror; each time you pass it, say “Glorified.”

Sermon Summary

Human self definition holds itself out as liberation, but Genesis exposes it as the old lie. The serpent’s promise, be as God, resurfaces in slogans like be your own maker and construct your own identity. Films and adverts cheer the journey of throwing off limits, nip, tuck, curate, and control. Yet the hamster wheel of likes and the bootstraps of self affirmation tire the soul. Cut man off from God and the image of God is denied, and then humanity gets reduced to units of biological mass. That reduction does not begin with genocide; it begins with forgetting who made man.

The navel tells a better truth. A navel says, you are not self made. You did not choose to be. Paul’s line, you are not your own, does not crush dignity; it grounds it. Genesis says man is made in God’s image, not merely a smarter animal. That image grants every person an astonishing worth and summons humility, for humanity must be weighed not against beasts but against God. The image is not a capacity that some have more of and others less. It is a vocation and a relation. Scripture ties it to knowledge, not bare IQ, but the knowledge of the Creator. Adam was made in the image; Christ is the Image. To be human is to be made for Christ, to image him, to exercise royal stewardship, to be male and female in a unity that whispers Christ and the church.

Adam did not live his sonship. He chose self deification over worship, and the image was marred. After the fall, murder remains forbidden because the image remains, but now humanity is glorious and a ruin. Repair cannot come from inside the ruin. Only the Original can re inscribe his likeness on the canvas. So the Image came. The last Adam took flesh, and in him the new self is renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. In him, those reborn receive what they could never construct: crucifixion with him, resurrection life, righteousness not their own, the Father’s delight. The identity does not hang on the strength of faith but on the blood that bought it. You are not your own, for you were bought at a price.

The martyrs understood this. Christianus sum named an identity received, not a preference performed. “Men call me Probus. My real name is Christian.” Abilities, achievements, and wounds are shifting ground. The Heidelberg comfort steadies the heart: I am not my own, but belong to Jesus Christ. Even a navel in the mirror becomes catechesis: born in Adam, remade in Christ, predestined to be conformed to the Image, kept until body and soul shine with Christ likeness.

Key Takeaways

1. Self-made identity hollows the soul. The cultural story promises freedom through self construction, but the result is bewilderment, anxiety, and a hollowed center. Without God as a fixed reference point, the self has no true north and spins itself dizzy on approval and performance. Liberation without a giver of being becomes a cage with mirrors. [05:35]
2. The navel preaches, “You are given.” A navel quietly testifies to creatureliness, dependence, and gift. Identity arrives before effort, choice, and branding; it is received from Another. Paul’s “you are not your own” lands as relief because belonging ends the exhausting quest to self invent. [10:49]
3. The image of God dignifies all. Genesis grounds human worth not in capacity but in God’s imprint and calling. That dignity humbles, because man is measured against God, and it steadies, because no impairment or stage of life can erase it. Male and female image him as a living sign of Christ and the church. [15:49]
4. Christ, the Image, remakes humanity. Restoration could not come from inside the ruin; only the Original could redraw the portrait. The second Adam bears the image perfectly and shares his likeness by new birth, renewing knowledge of God and true humanity. In him, people are humanized, mended, and fitted for dominion under God. [27:57]
5. Assurance rests on purchased belonging. “You are not your own, for you were bought at a price” anchors identity outside mood and performance. The grasp that keeps is his, not the believer’s, and the price paid forbids the thought of abandonment. Blood-bought people are held by tender, almighty arms that none can pry open. [31:42]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:17] - Reduction of humanity
[01:18] - Cut man off from God
[03:26] - “Be your own god”
[05:35] - Curated identities, hollow hearts
[09:20] - Identity talk gone wrong in church
[10:49] - The navel’s lesson
[15:49] - Image of God: dignity and design
[21:05] - Male and female, Christ and church
[24:30] - Adam’s ruin, image marred
[27:57] - Second Adam restores the image
[30:44] - New birth, new clothes in Christ
[31:42] - Bought at a price, kept secure
[34:25] - “My real name is Christian”
[37:50] - Comfort and promised conformity

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Observation Questions

What does the phrase “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19) imply about the source of our identity?
According to Genesis 1:26-27, how does being made in God’s image distinguish humans from the rest of creation?
The sermon mentions that Adam’s choice to “live his sonship” failed, marring the image of God. What contrast does it draw between Adam and Christ? [23:10]
How does the Heidelberg Catechism describe the believer’s assurance of belonging to Christ? [37:50]

Interpretation Questions

Why does the sermon argue that self-made identity leads to “bewilderment, anxiety, and a hollowed center”? How does this connect to the idea of being “cut off from God”? [05:35]
The navel is described as a symbol of dependence. How does this physical feature challenge cultural narratives about self-creation and autonomy? [10:49]
How does the distinction between Adam (the first human) and Christ (the “last Adam”) shape our understanding of redemption and restored humanity? [27:57]
What does it mean that human dignity is rooted in being “measured against God” rather than against animals or achievements? [15:49]

Application Questions

In what areas of your life do you feel pressure to “curate” or construct your identity (e.g., social media, career, relationships)? How might the truth “you are not your own” reframe those struggles? [05:35]
The sermon says, “Your navel preaches, ‘You are given.’” How could regularly reflecting on your createdness (e.g., through prayer or journaling) combat feelings of self-sufficiency or inadequacy?
How might treating others as “image-bearers of God” change the way you interact with someone who annoys you, disagrees with you, or seems “less capable”?
The Heidelberg Catechism states, “I am not my own, but belong to Jesus Christ.” What practical steps could you take to live out this truth when facing decisions about your time, money, or relationships?
The sermon warns against defining ourselves by abilities, achievements, or wounds. Which of these do you most often lean on for self-worth? How can Christ’s finished work redirect that dependence? [36:47]
How would your daily life look different if you fully embraced the truth that your identity is “bought at a price” and held secure by God—not by your performance? [31:42]
The martyrs declared, “My real name is Christian.” What habits or practices could help you grow in seeing “Christian” as your primary identity over other labels (e.g., career, ethnicity, roles)? [34:25]

Sermon Clips

We spend all this time gazing at our navels, and we don't spot the one thing that our navels very clearly tell us. You know what it is? Your navel tells you you are not self made. You never were. You were born of your mother. You didn't choose to be born. You didn't choose to look as you do. To be born a man or a woman, to have the strengths and weaknesses that you have, you didn't choose any of that. You didn't choose your name. You didn't choose your identity. You were born with it. [00:10:27] (51 seconds)

In other words, your navel teaches you a vital theological lesson. It teaches what Paul says in first Corinthians six nineteen, you are not your own. And while the world recoils at that thought, you are not your own, We're going to see now why that is wonderful good news. No. You are not your own. You are not your own maker. You are not your own preserver. Let's start here. First of all, you are not your own in creation. You were born with an identity. [00:11:18] (55 seconds)

There was only one hope for us. The original subject of the portrait had to come and have his likeness redrawn on the canvas of humanity. Only the one whose likeness was originally drawn on Adam could restore and renew it, and so the image of God himself came. He took humanity to renew his image in it. He came and showed us the image of God in the flesh. And so in the loving wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came. [00:27:08] (59 seconds)

And this last Adam would be the head of the new humanity, so that just as all those who were born in Adam were born with Adam's identity, so all who are reborn in Christ share Christ's identity. Only in him, never by ourselves, only in him, as Paul puts it in Colossians three, could we put on the new self being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. In him, we are humanized. In him, we are mended and renewed in the likeness of God. In him, we are made what we are created to be, and none of it is the result of our own doing. [00:28:07] (61 seconds)

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Michael Reeves: What Is My Identity?

Devotional

Day 1: Beloved Dust, Eternal Image

Day 2: Snake Oil and Stolen Fruit

Day 3: The Second Adam’s Blueprint

Day 4: Probus and the Unshakable Name

Day 5: Navels and New Bodies

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Michael Reeves: What Is My Identity?

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