called to belong

"Called to belong to Christ...loved by God...called to be saints": these words of the apostle Paul speak loudly about identity and purpose. Most of the time I get lost in my own world, pursuing my own tangents and ideas (sometimes getting it right and other times wrong). The weight is on me to find perfection, and I always fall short.
But these 3 phrases from a brief passage of his letter to Rome (the nations) call for a completely different path. My identity is in Christ, and the only way I can stand before Him holy, as a saint, is through His work--the life, death and resurrection of Christ. I love because I have been loved. I do not fear because fear itself has been conquered through Christ. I am not only freed from sin, but freed to extend this love to the world around me as well. The Gospel values me as an individual, but cannot get stuck just looking at me...I am an instrument in the outward expansion of His kingdom.