Identity in Christ: Oliver Twist

STP Devotional for the Week of 4/28/25

Oliver Twist is the story of a young boy who is orphaned at birth. He is put in a badly run orphanage and then is transferred to a workhouse for adults. Bullied by the other children, he asks for more food, prompting Mr. Bumble to sell Oliver into an apprenticeship. When a co-worker disparages his mother, Oliver attacks him, which forces him to leave his job. Oliver meets Jack Dawkins and Fagin who appear to give him a loving home. Oliver runs away again when he realizes Fagin is using kids for pickpockets.

This isn’t the end of the story, but you’ll have to come to the show to see how the drama unfolds.

What does this have to do with Jesus and finding our identity in Him? Oliver is an extreme example of not knowing who he is. His parents are gone, and he’s put in an orphanage from birth. It would have been very easy for him to give up, but he perseveres, trying to do good wherever he goes. Although he is raised in the same orphanage by the same people as the other children, Oliver is gifted with a strong sense of right and wrong.

When we find our identity in Christ, we become part of His chosen people.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Oliver doesn’t realize he is part of the chosen people of God, but he does realize that the people he is with – orphans at the orphanage, part of Fagin’s street gang, a thief – are not people who will point him in the right direction.

When we become God’s people, we also receive mercy.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10

Oliver experienced mercy at the hands of Mr. Brownlow and the Maylies. They recognized that he was set apart, different from the others, not part of the evil surrounding him.

Go back to 1 Peter 2:9 – do you see that, as a result of becoming His chosen people and receiving His mercy, we become a “people for His own possession?” Being someone’s possession may sound oppressive, but when we are God’s possession, He protects us, comforts us, upholds us, and is jealous for us. We know that He wants His best for us.

When we choose identity in Christ, He works everything in our lives for good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Does this mean there are no trials and struggles? Absolutely not. The trials and struggles we have in our lives are hand-picked for us to learn how to grow in our dependence on Him. Oliver meets awful people – Mr. Bumble, Mr. Sowerby, Fagin, Bill Sykes – but God also sends good people – Nancy, Mr. Brownlow, the Maylies – to comfort him.

Finding our identity in Jesus is the only way to navigate this world. As we’ve learned, He’s already conquered this world and has dominion over it. How comforting to know that our loving Father holds our future in His hands.