Daily Devotional

June 24th, 2021
by Pastor Wil Staley

Matthew 3:16-17

After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Do you have any embarrassing nicknames? The reason I specify "embarrassing" is because sometimes the more embarrassing the nickname is, the greater the story behind it. Between sports as a kid and the Marine Corps, I have a host of them: Duce Staley, Midnight, Deuce Mckenzie, Coach Coach, The Prodigy, Willito, etc. One of the simplest and yet most memorable nicknames I'll have forever is Little William. I was called that for my entire childhood growing up by my family members because everybody knew my dad as William and me as little William. That nickname, while only a certain number of people call me that for a season, defined who I was.

And I imagine if you think about your nickname(s) and how you got them, it may tell you a little bit about who you are today. There's something about a name that helps shape one's identity. The other side of that, however, is that sin has also given us some nicknames. Names that we are not proud of and that also try to creep in and define our identity. Through Jesus, we can embrace our true identity in Him rather than the false identity that sin creates for us. Jesus paid the price for our sin and took on our broken identity so that we could experience the life He has.

Jesus identified Himself through baptism before He began His earthly ministry. The Father identified Jesus as the Son in whom He was well pleased prior to the start of His ministry here on earth. The point here is that identity must come before activity. We must allow the voice of the Father to drown out all the other voices that try to speak into our lives. Then allow for who He says we are and our identification with Him, leads us in the things we should do. Now say to yourself and the Father, "I am who you say I am!"

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