Heirs to the Throne

n the movie, the Princess Diary’s, Mia is a young girl living a regular, normal life and going to school like everyone else. One day, the Queen of Genovia comes to visit Mia Thermopolis. She tells her she is not just Mia, but her granddaughter. She tells her she is the princess of Genovia and is in line to rule the country. She explains to her that she can help her learn to become royalty. Mia is shocked and in disbelief. The Queen says “the truth is you ARE a princess.” Mia tries to disagree with the Queen. Later, she questions in her mind who is she really? She remembers the Queen saying, “You are an heir to the throne by birth. I only married into it but you are an heir.”

Mia (Amelia) thought she knew her identity. Whether you know your identity or not, could you be wrong? Or not know it fully? Some of us could have a word spoken over our identity by someone else or even to us by ourselves and we’re not aware of it or its impact. Have you ever said, “I’ll never be able to do this!” “I’m so dumb!” “I’m a nobody and nobody likes me.” We’ve made being dumb and not good enough a part of our identity. We have heard lies or negative words spoken over us and we have believed them. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Prov. 18:21 Your identity is NOT in those Iies!

Jacob had identity issues. He was known as the “heal grabber”. He was the manipulator who lied and got his way. Eventually, he wrestled with an angel until he got a blessing. He wanted an identity change. The angel knew Jacob had struggled his whole life with his identity so they wrestled and he was given a new name-Israel. How many of us wrestle with our identity and believe lies that have given us the wrong identity? “The angel asks him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob,’ he answered. Then the man said, ‘your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.’” His new name was a symbol of how God had changed in his life. It was a new identity. Jacob, who was a deceiver became Israel – the one who struggles with God and overcomes.

If I was just going along living my life with a regular ho-hum identity, I wouldn’t necessarily know I might have my identity wrong or that it could even need to be changed. We must learn our identity!

If a royal king with a shiny, gold crown, a purple velvet robe adorned with a scepter and ornate jewels showed up at my front door and said , “You are a royal princess and I’m here to put you in your proper place.” I would be dumbfounded. Even if I were to tell him “no” and close the door in his face, my mind would be wrestling with the idea that my identity was wrong. I would wonder if I didn’t really know my identity at all or if I had been living a lie of who I really was. As I begin to accept the truth of my new identity of Princess, I open the door and I begin to walk different because I am now a child of God, a new creation, loved, chosen, and a citizen of heaven. I am no longer a citizen of this world. Like Mia, I learned who I really am. I know my true identity. I am now in my proper place.

We all have a king who is standing at our door knocking. He knows most of us have an identity and some of our identity is full of lies. He’s waiting to change our identity and put us in our proper place as heirs to His throne. We, too, are heirs to His throne. “And since we are His true children, we qualify to share all His treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God Himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that He is and all that He has.” Rom. 8:17

Royalty is our identity. “You will no longer be named Abram because I am changing your name to Abraham, I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you abundantly fruitful, more than you expect.” Gen. 17:5-6 Wrestle with your identity and pin down those lies!