Beware of the idol of ‘personal identity.’ This modern concept seems harmless to the ears, but what it leads people to believe can be the most recurring stumbling block in our journey of rejoicing in the Gospel. Personal identity is a philosophical (and religious) idea that there are traits about us that make us who we are and if we fail to accept these traits we will never truly be ourselves. From the trunk of personal identity grows the concept of ‘sexual orientation.’ This leads most to believe that mortifying the sin of homosexuality would be an attack on my identity, and that is not what God wants for me.
We can replace homosexuality with any sin we struggle with (eg. pride, anger, worry, etc.) and see that we make excuses for the sins that seem to be tied uniquely to who we are as a person. The Gospel tells a different story. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us that believers are a new creation in Christ, the old (personal identity) is gone and the new (person of Christ) comes. In Christ, we are not to claim any sin as our identity but we are to kill all of our sins by the power of God, in our life-long mortification marathon, until Christ comes or draws us home.