Lessons From Being an Orientation Counselor: Identity in Christ
A lot of people have asked me what its been like to be a CMU orientation counselor (OC). To say the least, I had a blast — I enjoyed screaming with everyone at Playfair, I enjoyed mingling with the first-years and seeing them make their own friends, I ate some of Chartwell’s Finest Dining (free food is good food), and I met so many more people consisting of other OC’s, my beloved Morewood Staff, and surprisingly, other members of the Acapella Community!
But the thing that made this experience extremely memorable were the valuable lessons I learned in relation to my Christian Faith. My different interactions with people, the training workshops I did to become an OC, and the internal struggles — both mental and physical during the week — have taught me how I can be a better servant of Christ, and changed my perception on how I will live faithfully to the Lord in the future.
I probably can’t fully flesh out every lesson in just one article (so expect more installments of this!) but the most important lesson I learned from this experience is related to my Christian Identity.
Christianity: Public or Private?
As Christians, we’re called to have our identity rooted in Christ. All aspects of our lives — work, family, education, love — have to be focused on glorifying God. But I’ve noticed that for me personally, I’ve hidden my identity in Christ from the world. When I enter the classroom with my peers, or when I participate in clubs that are not Christian, I stuff my Christian identity into my backpocket and suddenly, God becomes absent not only from my life, but also from the lives of people around me.
However, Jesus calls us to do the opposite of hiding our identity. Matthew 5:14–16 says:
“ You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
With such an explicit command from Jesus to be public about my faith in order to showcase His love, what was preventing me from doing so? Why was I stuffing Jesus into my backpocket?
Fear: The Big Enemy
One specific experience I had made the reason clear. We had an activity with the entire Morewood Community where we had to choose our top value from a comprehensive list of values. There were values such as integrity, perseverance, love, humility.- how could I pick just one value? Then, I spotted a value that made this exercise a no-brainer: Religion.
For me, religion was my top value because Christianity encapsulated all of the beautiful values on that list. God is love, and he calls us to love. God calls us to be humble servants and look to others greater than ourselves. He calls us to persevere and fight the good fight. Everything on that list was either an aspect of God’s character or was a character trait that we as Christians should obediently follow.
However, even though I was excited about this easy answer, I suddenly shrank when we invited to share our top values. Part of me wanted to share, especially with the Matthew verse convicting me, but I was scared.
I was fearful of how people would perceive me if I shared. I feared being labelled “a religious nut”. I feared that people would see me as no fun, or as someone who would always try to evangelize them just because I was a Christian and they were not. And growing up, I was teased for being “the Christian” in my friend group, which only fueled my insecurities. You could say I was ashamed of my Faith.
“I will not be ashamed.”
However, the words of Paul from Romans 1:16 were also deep in my heart:
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”
This reminded me that I should not be ashamed of the Good news nor the man who was gracious enough to save us. I will not be ashamed of my identity. And even if people would end up judging me negatively, I asked myself, “If I were to make a decision, would I rather please man or God?”
With this truth in mind, I raised my hand, publicly declared my identity as a Christian, and shared the reasoning behind my top value.
And guess what? The world didn’t fall on me. No one got hurt. Everything was alright.
My Morewood friends continued to treat me with the same kindness they had previously, and the first-years I knew didn’t act negatively towards me. In fact, one of the first-years asked me about Church and which fellowship I would recommend. Praise the Lord for this!
Liberation in Christianity
I think the biggest effect from this was the inexplicable joy I felt after sharing — I felt so free. It was as if my soul were a bird previously shackled down, and by the mere act of sharing my identity, I was let loose and allowed to fly into a beautiful sunset.
After this sharing experience, I took advantage of more opportunities to talk about my Faith during orientation. From saying I was a Christian during a deep Morewood bonding session to loosely including ACF in my casual conversations with others, I felt such an extreme feeling of liberation that Jesus was no longer stuffed in my backpocket, but instead shining brightly as a breastplate on my chest.
The lesson I got from this experience was that even though my fears may have been justified, because nothing separates us from the Love of God, I can have assurance that those fears become nothing when compared to God. I can publicly proclaim my identity in Christ because nothing, no fear or doubt, can overtake Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross.
So let me end with this: What’s making you stuff Jesus in your back pocket? What’s stopping you from proclaiming your true identity? And how does that compare to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus?
