Author Trey Knowles' In Him I Stand shows that your identity shapes your beliefs. In this book, we learn who we are in Christ and how we should exemplify the character of God by the way we live.
Identity-the way we perceive ourselves-is what shapes our core beliefs. Those core beliefs, in turn, drive what we think, say, and do. Everyone has a worldly identity and a spiritual identity. 1 John 3:10 tells us that each person is either a child of God or a child of the devil.
We, as Christians, know that we are children of God, but there is much more to our identity than that. Each of us has been made into a new creation by God Himself-hence the term "born again." This new creation, with its new identity, comes with a clear description of who we are.
Once and for all, we have been forgiven, declared innocent (justified) of all wrongdoing, made holy (sanctified), and made brothers of Jesus and joint heirs of God's kingdom. We have been given the righteousness of God, translated out of darkness into His light, changed from being God's enemies to being His friends, and joined with Christ eternally as His bride-and so much more.