One of my favorite books of optical illusions always astounds me as the pictures deceive my eyes—like one with two lines of the same length appearing to be different sizes, or the famous “impossible staircase” in which four flights of stairs seem to link in a continuous loop. It can also be a little disconcerting to realize we don’t always see things as they truly are.

But it’s not only our eyes that deceive us. We can sometimes believe illusions about our identity as God’s children when we’re bombarded daily with the world’s deceptive claims. Author Henri Nouwen wrote, “Jesus came to announce to us that an identity based on success, popularity and power is a false identity—an illusion!”

Our true identity, possible because of God’s lavish love, is that when we receive Jesus as our Savior we become “children of God” (1 John 3:1). As the apostle John recognized, sometimes “our hearts condemn us” (v. 20), and we begin to doubt God’s love or even question if we truly belong to Him. However, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (v. 20). Instead of being deceived by damaging illusions, we can believe the truth that we are God’s beloved children.

Whatever illusions you may encounter about your identity today, hold fast to the truth that you’re God’s beloved child.