Identity

“Who are you?”

That’s a strange question for a judge to ask, but a man stood before Judge Michael Simon, and that was exactly the issue.

The judge turned to attorney Janet Hoffman and asked, “Do you want me to refer to your client as Mr. Pearce, Mr. Do, or Mr. Casper?”

Roger Pearce was a 77-year-old man who had retired to Oregon. But that was a lie.

After applying for a new Social Security number, the police arrested him for identity theft. They charged him under the anonymous name “John Doe.”

Pearce admitted he was born Willie Casper. But at Rice University, he had made a mess of his life. He dropped out of school, went through a series of marriages and divorces, and eventually slid into petty theft and murky check schemes.

He wanted a fresh start.

So he purchased the birth certificate of a deceased child and applied for a new Social Security number under that name.

In our world, you cannot change your name to change your life. History — bad and good — follows you.

If you want a fresh start, it doesn’t begin with a name change. It begins with a Lord change.

Paul told the Corinthians:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

You bear the same name, but the old life gets erased. Forgiveness gives a fresh start and a different identity — child of God.

If you want a new identity, don’t do what Pearce did. Come to Christ, and the old becomes new.