Christian Family Identity

Good morning, Five Minute Families. We are Jim and Kim Nestle with Clear View Retreat, a family retreat ministry that reaches out to families in both the ‘storms’ and ‘norms’ of life. We are thankful that you have joined us today as we discuss the Christian family’s identity. Please note that when we speak about ‘Christian family identity,’ we are not talking about the way the world has warped the term ‘Christian identity.’ We were both shocked and appalled to do an internet search and see that the search yielded information about racist, anti-Semitic, or white supremacy ideologies. Which, by the way, are not in any way, shape, or form truly Christ-like thoughts or behaviors. What we are talking about is TRUE biblical, Christian identity - the identities we are to hold and mold that are based on God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness as well as His work on the cross and our redemption. During the family camps we host here, we discuss family identity, which we have done a series on and you can find in our podcast archives under the Family Camp series, but today we want to suggest a five-step, five-minute Family Identity Challenge. Each of the five steps should take about five minutes, with a five-minute break in the middle, for a total of 30 minutes. Now, as always, adjustments must be made for families with littles, typically under the age of six or seven, depending on attention spans. You may need to allow the littles to participate for the first minute of each step, sharing their thoughts and then excusing them to play quietly nearby or color. Parents, you are going to need to do some prep work that will take a bit more time. The book of Ephesians has a lot of detail about our identities in Christ. Likewise, you can prayerfully review specific verses that God has in His word about our identities in Him. Some of those verses are: Galatians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 1:12, Ephesians 1:5, 1 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 3:1-2, 2 Corinthians 13:13, Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:22, a