1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, (so) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God on Colossians 2:12-13
Ours is a glorious and exalted life. "Christ is our life." "We are risen with Christ." By this we are declared to be a chosen, an adopted, a pardoned, a justified, and a quickened people. This is our present state; this is our present character.
G. Campbell Morgan The Great Physician, "Simon and the Woman", Luke 7:44 "Seest Thou this woman?"
Simon could not see her as she was because he was looking at her as she used to be. That is a common trouble with Christian people. The woman who was a sinner is now forgiven and cleansed...and was bidden to go forth in a life of peace...peace with God, peace within her own soul, peace in spite of all human opinion.
Do we see others, and ourselves, as God sees us?
John Newton
Though I am not what I ought to be,
nor what I wish to be,
nor what I hope to be,
I can truly say, I am not what I once was;
a slave to sin and Satan;
and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge,
“By the grace of God I am what I am.”
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Spiritual Depression
“Vain Regrets” on 1 Corinthians 15:8-10
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/spiritual-depression/vain-regrets/
It is what I am that matters. What am I? I am forgiven, I am reconciled to God by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, I am a child of God, I am in God’s family, my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and I am a pilgrim in this world on my way to heaven. So if the devil attacks you about your past, say to him: “What you are saying about me is perfectly true. But what I am interested in is what I am now, and “I am what I am by the grace of God.”
A.W. Tozer, We Travel an Appointed Way
Philippians 3:12b “Christ Jesus took hold of me…”
No matter how insignificant he may have been before, a man becomes significant the moment he has had an encounter with the Son of God. When the Lord lays His hand upon a man, that man ceases at once to be ordinary. He immediately becomes extraordinary, and his life takes on cosmic significance. The angels in heaven take notice of him and go forth to become his ministers. (Hebrews 1:14) Though the man had before been only one of the faceless multitude, a mere cipher in the universe, an invisible dust grain blown across endless wastes-now he gets a face and a name and a place in the scheme of meaningful things. Christ knows His own sheep “by name”. (John 10:3)
There are no unknown Christians, no insignificant sons of God. Each one signifies, each is a “sign” drawing the attention of the Triune God day and night upon him. (Isaiah 49:16)
The faceless man has a face, the nameless man a name, when Jesus picks him out of the multitude and calls him to Himself.
John Piper's Desiring God
https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/identity-in-christ
"What God Thinks About You"
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-god-thinks-about-you
If we are “in Christ Jesus” it means we have entered His Kingdom; we have surrendered to His Lordship and authority and are under His presence, protection, and guidance. We are no longer our own but live by faith in Him (Galatians 2:20).
In Christ Jesus you were given saving grace before the world was created. 2 Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”
In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an everlasting and inseparable love. Romans 8:38-39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:3, 1 John 3:1)
In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Romans 8:1 "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Because of our position in Christ Jesus, God sees the righteousness of His Son and "In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God's presence with boldness and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (Colossians 3:10)
In Christ Jesus you are a child of God's. Ephesians 1:5, "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ..." Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
In Christ Jesus the Holy Spirit lives within you. Ephesians 2:22, "In him you become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Peter 2:5)
In Christ Jesus you were created to glorify God with our lives and actions. Ephesians 2:10 "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (1 Peter 2:18) 1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
In Christ Jesus, though not yet realized, our position is already established and guaranteed in heaven. Ephesians 1:7 "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:20, 1 Peter 1:3-5)
Pastor Brad Small
Our Spiritual Union With Christ (Philippians 2:1)
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-union-with-christ
https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-union-with-christ/
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/united-to-christ-and-his-body/
and in Christ Jesus we are united to every believer (1 Corinthians 1:10; 12:12-14, 27; Ephesians 4:11-16)
https://groupministry.lifeway.com/2018/03/02/the-church-united-in-christ/
Henry Lyte "Praise, My soul, the King of Heaven"
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who His praise should sing?