In Case of Emergency

I’m shopping for new identification tags for my dogs since their old ones have our current address on them. There are lots of cute options:

“Have your people call my people.”
“If you can read this, I’ve escaped.”
“Couch potato.”
“Keep calm and call my mom.”
“Could I see the menu?”
“I can’t hold my licker.”

One of those dogs tags had a review where the owner wrote that the tag fit both her dog’s personality and her own.

If I were to customize some to fit my dogs and I, the hound’s might read: I run faster than my mom. The pit bull’s might read: Call my mom; she worries and so do I.

But of course, those just give a small slice of what my dogs are like, and if the description of them is incomplete, the description of me is even more so. Summarizing an identity is a big responsibility for a few pithy words on a 1 inch circle.

After much debate, I think I’m going to go with one that says the dog’s name and lists our basic contact info, but the search got me thinking about identities. After all, these are identification tags and though I don’t wear a tag around my neck proclaiming it, I have an identity. I even have an owner.

Have you ever thought much about that? If you wore an identification tag about who you are and who you belong to on the most fundamental level, what would it say?

In Bible times, people’s given names were packed with meaning. From what I’ve seen in my own family, names still pack a punch. My brother Isaac is the funny one of the family; his name means laughter. I’m a hard worker, if I say so myself; my name means industrious.

But those names don’t reference the One who owns us. So, back to the drawing board.

As believers, we are many things in God’s eyes: Beloved, Forgiven, Redeemed, or Daughter. (Check out this post for a couple more ideas and Bible verses to go with them.) Which one strikes us at any given point in our lives might change, not because our identity in Christ has changed, but because it’s so complex and deep that we can spend our lives exploring it without completely understanding the wonder of our God’s love for us. In fact, “Wonderstruck by Jesus” would be a wonderful identity.

And then on the back of the I.D. tag, where the phone number would be listed, the believer’s tag would read, “In case of emergency, call on Jesus.”

I’m linking up with Cisnero’s Cafe’s Open Mic Monday. Click over to enjoy more faith-based blog posts!

What part of your identity in Christ has struck you most recently? Is there a verse that goes along with it?