A Word on Identity

Who am I?

Have you ever asked that question as you're staring intently at yourself in front of the bathroom mirror or as you lay in your bed starring up at the Justin Bieber poster on your ceiling?

How do you answer it? What's the first thing that you're quick to identify with?
Lately I've been learning a lot about identity. What defines who I am? In college, you meet a lot of people and consequently you must be prepared to answer...the big 3!

1. What's your name? Marc. duh. 
2. Where are you from? I usually say Orlando. I'm really from Mt. Dora but no one's ever heard of that place.
3. What are you studying? Accounting!!! so exciting right?! ...yes. Yes it is.

As long as you know the answers to those three questions, you can get by in any collegiate social gathering.
But beneath every person there is a life and a soul. A past full of joyful memories, hardships, or a combination of the two. A present full of personality, opinions, thoughts, strengths and struggles. A future full of dreams, visions, and goals.
Everyone of us is a unique combination of all of these, and if you take the time to get to know someone, you will discover them.

So who are you? What is your purpose here? Where are you going?

Let's look at someone who could answer these questions without a single doubt in his mind...Jesus of Nazareth!
If you read through the gospel accounts of his life, it is clear that he knew who he was and what his purpose was on earth.

Check out Luke 2:41-52,

...After three days they found him (Jesus) in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 

At 12 years old, Jesus was already spending time with the priests and rabbi's in the temple going about his Father's business.

So what was Jesus's identity? In short, He was the Son of God.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Jesus came to make us right with God again. He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Jesus never had to go "find himself" or take an inward journey of self-discovery. (Which I don't recommend doing, it's very scary what you might find in there!) He had an identity, a purpose, a direction, and a destiny.

So that's all great for Jesus, he knew who he was already. That's cheating. What about me?

Maybe you're confident in who you are already. You might be an amazing athlete. Maybe you were the valedictorian of you high school. Perhaps you are in the top 100 best Call of Duty players who pones noobs day in and day out. If you're like most people, you've worn many different hats. You've tried a lot of things. Here's our problem though, none of those things that we identify ourselves with will last. Eventually, we aren't as strong as we used to be or someone better comes along to beat us out. Djokovic beat out Nadal as the number one tennis player. Someone will probably beat him out soon. What are these professionals going to do when their career is over? What is the president going to do when his term runs out? What will you do when you retire and all your life's work is done away with? 
There will be times in you life when you can no longer be who you wanted to be or do what you used to, and you're left with...an identity crisis!

There is good news though! Jesus came not only to show us who God is, but also to show us a new identity that will never fade away.

Note the following points!

Point #1: IDENTITY IS NOT ACHIEVED, IT IS RECEIVED

God is the one who made us, therefore we receive our identity from Him! If He says what we are, then it's probably a good idea to take His word for it.

Here are two main characteristics shared among all of us (from God):
We are revelation receivers.
This simply means that God has made us for communication with Him. He desires a relationship with us and wants us to know Him, love Him, and worship Him.
We are humbly honored.
Though we are not God, He has made us in His very image which is a great honor! He has set us in charge of taking care of creation.

We see this play out in Genesis 1:26.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Then in verse 28 it says that God blessed Adam and Eve. They hadn't even done anything yet and He just blessed them anyway! He gave them an purpose and then blessed them to be fruitful and multiply.

Unfortunately, humanity rejected God's ways. We tried to do our thing and make our own identity. Which brings me to my next point.

Point #2: LACK OF GOD-GIVEN IDENTITY LEADS TO IDOLATRY

Idolatry is our attempt to find identity, value, treasure, and worship in anything but God. It's taking something other than God and putting it in His place.
Romans 1:25 “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator."

According to the Genesis account, the very first sin ever committed was a result of an identity crisis. Satan deceived Adam and Eve to disobey God with the promise that they could "become like God."
Here's the problem with that though: God had already made man like Himself! Like we saw in Genesis 1:26, God made us in his image! We were deceived into thinking we needed to make our own image and in that we rejected our God-given identity!
As a result, we see a fallen humanity searching desperately to figure out who we are, and finding our identity in anything but God. Some people get it messed up by putting humanity equal with God. We see this in various religions that teach the answers come from within. Some say that we are no more than a random assembly of chemical reactions, no more important than bacteria. The reality is that we are not God, but He has made us to bear His image to the world. Sin disrupted our purpose, so God made a way to restore it, leading us to my final point!

Point #3: JESUS CAME TO GIVE US A NEW IDENTITY

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!" 1 Corinthians 5:17
Jesus came to bring us back to God and adopt us into His family, we no longer have to be orphans without a home. He came to give us a purpose, a hope, and a destiny!
All the other things that pull for our attention promise to satisfy us, but they NEVER deliver. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10
He came to restore our relationship with God through His death on the cross, and to stop this identity crisis that we find ourselves in! 

So friends! Put your trust and find your identity in Jesus who will never fail you.
If you are in Christ, remember your identity today.
You are a revelation receiver, you are humbly honored, and you are a child of the Living God! He loves you so much, (so stop living in fear or shame! Be real with Him!). He created you unique and wonderful, (so don't try "to fit" in and be someone you're not!). Finally, He will never leave you (so just trust Him!).

Rest in your God-given identity today!

-Marc