Identity

Each one of us has an innate desire to know who we are.  As I discussed in the last post, this is sought after on a number of different levels.  But I want to get to the heart of it right now.

God made each of us uniquely.  He took time to weave each of us into something precious, something special.  Each of us was thought out in His mind with incredible detail and wonder.  When we have been born into His Kingdom, we become sons and daughters of God.  Born of the same Spirit that He is.  We become pricelessly valuable.

Not to mention that God felt we were worth the life of His Son, Jesus.  Because of that, our identity is as a child of God.  That is unchangeable.  It is not based on our achievement, it is based on Jesus’ achievement on the cross.  It is not based on our social ability, or our friendliness.  Our identity is unchanging, as it was given to us by the One who gives true value and meaning.  Jesus’ accomplishment gave us a birth certificate into a new family.

What you think of yourself changes like the wind.  How you feel about yourself varies according to the weather, sunshine makes us feel energized and excited, and rain pushes us into lethargy or depression.  But who you are, never ever changes.

Forever and ever I will be a son of the Most High God.  My family tree changed to include Jesus, and Isaac and Abraham.  I have been adopted forever into a family that will never end, and will never die.  Whatever my performance may be, or my status, or my mood.  Whatever my kindness, my failure, my lack, my insecurity, my love.  A son I remain.  A child of God I am, and will be.  Whatever may be said of me, nothing, no nothing can change who I have been made.  My value is known only by God, and I belong to Him.  He has given me all that I have, and made me all that I am.  He is unchanging.  He calls me His son.  And so I am, and so I will be.

Who am I?

I think our generation is hungry for identity.  We’re hungry for meaning and value.  We want to know who we are and what we’re about, and what we’re worth so that we can’t be shaken up by the rise and fall of life.  We want so badly to be able to say, “It’s all gonna work out.”  But we just can’t seem to find it on our own.

I watch person after person work themselves into exhaustion studying to better themselves and their situation through education and employment.  They think that if they’re knowledgeable and well educated then they have value, importance.  But who really cares if you know all the famous women of the Renaissance period, or the men who helped “invent” the latest global crisis?  Do you somehow become instantly valuable to the world because of your knowledge?

 How about employment?  We work our collective tails off to get a Master’s Degree (last generation had to get the bachelor’s to ensure employment) to ensure ourselves a quality job when we graduate, and we get into a well-paying, highly respected position that we despise, and we find out that other people may think we’re valuable because of our education and job and status and wealth, but we pretty well despise ourselves, because we are acutely aware that we sold out on life for “success.”

Truth be known, seek all you want for your identity in what you do, how much you make, what cause you stand for, and how much you recycle.  You will never find it, ever.  Who wants to be defined by their job or their degree anyway?  How much value do you truly have if the only thing people see when they look at you is a dollar sign?  There is only one place to find who you are.  And it is from the one who made you into the priceless treasure that you are.

“I knew you before you were in your mother’s womb.”  Jesus said that.  He made you, He can make you good, though you’ve made yourself bad, and He can tell you exactly who you are.  

If you want to find out what a painting is all about, you have to ask the artist.  Well, The Artist created you.  And if you want to know what you’re truly all about, you gotta ask Him.

He’s in love.  He’s happy.  He’s trustworthy.  He’s got some crazy good things to say about you.  

Ask Him.  His name’s Jesus.