Officer Devotional: Who does the Bible say you are? If you're a believer, your constant identity is in Jesus

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Editor’s note: Being a police officer…is hard. There’s no other way around it. And I’m not even necessarily talking about the actual work of an officer, which is also hard. I’m talking about everything else that goes with it: the emotions, the negativity, the trauma. It’s just hard.

One of our goals at Law Enforcement Today is to support law enforcement however we can. As a company, we believe in God and we want to find ways to bring Jesus into the lives of our readers, especially those who are serving our communities and our country.

A natural extension of that is by offering short devotionals- short because we understand the hectic schedule with non-existent free time of officers- which we'll be bringing you one Sunday a month. Please know that we at LET are praying for each and every reader, each and every first responder, each and every active-duty military member and veteran. We see you, and we appreciate you! God bless.


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Who are you? For many careers, it’s easy to have the “it’s just a job” mindset. But with policing, it’s not “just a job.” It’s not even just a career. It’s a way of life. It changes parts of your brain (theoretically, that is- I have no scientific data to back that up!) and causes you to view the world differently. As one’s career progresses, they call that being jaded. But it can arguably also be called simply being realistic.

On or off duty, you’re watching hands constantly. You can’t sit with your back to the door. You’re always evaluating everyone and everything when you walk into a place, as well as mentally making note of all the exits. It’s good information to store in your brain, but it can also be really rough to constantly be in that state of mind.

When an officer is “off duty,” it doesn’t mean he will look the other way when someone needs help in most situations. There’s a reason any agencies consider their officers automatically on duty if they step in to take action during an incident while technically not on the clock. Officers are trained to handle a plethora of situations and their personalities alone generally cause them to step up and step in when things come up.

Officers are also held to higher standards than the general public, as we are seeing around the nation when an officer posts inappropriate comments on their own social media accounts even in civilian attire.

It makes sense, then, that this “job” naturally becomes a part of who you are. But it isn’t WHO you are. Your identity doesn’t rest solely in your career, no matter how much a part of your life it may become.

Being a cop may be part of your identity, but your identity is not in being a cop. It’s an incredibly important distinction.

As a believer in Jesus, your identity is constant: Your identity is a child of God. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” No matter what happens to your career, that doesn’t change. And that’s incredibly good news because as much as a young cop might think they’re invincible or that they’ll be doing this job forever, we all know that’s not true.

What happens when you are no longer in your career, and, either through retirement or injury, you suddenly don’t have “cop” in your list of identifying factors? I can tell you from firsthand experience, it sucks! That is, it sucks if you’re not prepared. Changing identity is hard. But if you’re rooted firmly in the knowledge that you’re a child of God, the blow is a lot softer.

Our identity in Jesus does not change, not matter what in our lives do change- including our careers. Our identity in Jesus is constant and it’s secure. God does not change, neither does his love for us or the fact that He has chosen us for redemption and salvation.

 
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
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