Identity Crisis

Who are you?  Really?  What defines your identity?  Is it your race?  Your gender?  Your nationality?  Your occupation?  What about your relationships?  Your religious preference?  Your sexual orientation?  Your income?

Society looks at all of these things, and more, to try to define who you are. But none of them really get to the bottom of your true identity. It’s really like a mystery story, where nobody is who they appear to be, and nobody is sure who anybody else is either. So where do you go to find out?

A good place to start might be with God, the author of the mystery. God knows who you really are because he made you in the first place. He placed you where you are in the world to fulfill a specific purpose, or rather, to fulfill a whole bunch of purposes. What does God have to say about who you are?

First, you are made in God’s image (see Genesis 1:26) . That is, your intellect, your emotions and your deepest desires are a small picture of what God himself is like. Wait a minute, you say— I don’t really like the idea that God is just like me, or worse, just like the creepy guy down the hall! That’s because all of us are separated from God by sin, and our image of God has become torn, stained and defaced by our own bad choices and those of others. The Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

So here we are, creatures who once bore the perfect image of God himself, but fallen. Like a ruined artwork. What kind of identity is that? A lousy one—but that’s not the end of the story. Jesus came to address this problem precisely. He took our sins on himself when he died on the cross. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, God gives a new identity to those who put their faith in him. He calls them his children, saints, soldiers of Christ, and beloved. Not only that, but as you offer your life to God to fulfill his purposes, you will find that God has a specific plan for you, one that will shed light on who he made you to be.

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