Who Am I? - Kristi Buttles

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Writing again?” a familiar voice called to me as I sat in a coffee shop with my laptop.

“I’m working on it,” I replied with a smile.

“I admire that you have the discipline to write—that you’re a writer,” he said.

“I’ve never been published, so I don’t know if I can say I’m an official writer.”

“I think you are,” he said as he left.

His words should have encouraged me. Instead, they reminded me of what I am not. They reminded me of the rejections, unfinished projects, and finished projects collecting cyber dust in my computer. I felt inferior, inadequate, and discouraged.

Have you felt inferior as a Christian, despite someone’s encouragement? Perhaps they encouraged you in an area of life that God has worked in, but the only voice you heard was the one that reminded you of the failures?

“Look at you now!” they whisper. “Look what you used to be and look at you now.” Their whispers become shouts of discouragement.

The voice that cuts down and condemns is not from God. God is not a god of shame. He doesn’t say and do things that drive us from Him; rather, He wants to draw us near. The voice that disbelieves God, criticizes us, and reminds us of what we were before Christ was our Savior, is a liar. That voice is loud, strong, and stubborn. If we give it the slightest second thought, those cursing words multiply in our minds and consume us. Doubt clouds our vision, God, and our salvation.

Can I be called a writer even though I haven’t been published? I don’t know. Can I be called a child of God? Absolutely! Why so sure? Because who I am in Christ is not about what I’ve done, it’s about what Christ did for me…and you. It’s about His victory in me.

The next time you’re tempted to doubt who you are, recognize the enemy’s voice and give God’s Word a try.


Kristi Buttles is a freelance writer and photographer and has been published in the book Faith & FINANCES: In God We Trust. She is an elementary school teacher and is involved in several ministries in her home church. She has written fiction, non-fiction, a Bible study, and a children’s book which she also illustrated, all of which she hopes to publish soon. She has also designed her own line of unique greeting cards that combine her love for words with her passion for photography.
Read Kristi's devotions.