“Identity” is something that is the buzz today. It’s almost impossible to avoid a media discussion about gender identity, sexual identity, or racial identity. So called “identity politics” are increasingly dominating every part of our lives. While this is a popular topic right now, it’s really not a new topic.
The Bible actually speaks to the issues of human identity, and does so quite frequently. In fact, the first thing the Bible says about humanity is that we are made in the image of God. That’s what makes us who we are, that’s our ultimate identity, the starting point of all the others, spouse, parent, child, student, employee etc… It’s the presence of sin that causes us to invert that order, making the socio-temporal identities our ultimate identities.
If you think about it Adam and Eve attempted to elevate themselves as equals to God which was the first identity crisis, one we are still feeling the effects of today.
In humanity today there is nothing more important than answering the question “Who am I?” We are taught and even indoctrinated to believe that all things are meant to serve our attempt to discover and live out our version of our identity. We have become increasingly individualistic. We live in the age of “selfies” and a “you do you” mentality. A person’s identity, or their particular mode of self expression is sacred in our current times. There is nothing more important, our society says, than allowing people to identify themselves hoe they see fit.
There a store in my rural town where an employee identifies as a cat. I never thought I would see such madness in my town. But it’s just not a “my town”problem but a world problem. Maybe it’s a church problem which is not immune to promoting this kind of ideology either. Why talk about sin when people feel much more comfortable being told God wants them to be happy being themselves. The false “health, wealth, prosperity gospel” of the past several decades may be giving way to what we might call false identity gospel. The false gospel that tickles people’s ears to believe that God simply wants you to be content with who you are. As long as you’re being true to yourself and you’re “following your heart” you are following God.
The question is “What is your only comfort in life and death?” My answer is “That I am not my own.” But that’s further from the prevailing mindset of today.
The tragic thing is that countless people today find their identity in the wrong thing. They answer the question above “Who am I?” based on relationships, job performance, self-expression or even their circumstances. In which will always come up short of giving them the satisfaction they are after. It might feel good for a while but it never lasts. The happiness that these identities offer is always fleeting and fading.
The hunt for our identity should be something that is true in every circumstance we are in. If we try to identify ourselves on transient things we find ourselves constantly disoriented, lost, and unfulfilled.
This is an age old problem. Humanity has and will continue to spend everything in pursuit of satisfaction, in pursuit of a name. We will spend everything, and gain nothing. We can search our whole lives for an identity, only to end up anonymous and unknown.
Maybe this is a sad outworking of that first identity crisis that happened back in the Garden of Eden. Thankfully God doesn’t leave I’d with our empty definitions of ourselves or our shattered self-conceptions of ourselves. Maybe there’s hope for us yet. What we see in the Bible is the story of God coming down to humanity in Jesus in order to give us a new identity. Not only a new one, but a better, richer, more satisfying identity than we could ever give ourselves.
Every thing we need for a freeing and fulfilling identity is found in Jesus. Our identity isn’t something we come up with ourselves, but something we are given to by Jesus. When He becomes our identity.
2 Corinthians 5:17 states,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ (Jesus), he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come,”
There two little words that have a powerful affect in the question “Who am I?” Those two little words are “in Him.” “Who am I in Him?
The answer to the identity question “who am I?” is no body. We are no bodies, but in Christ Jesus we are part of God’s family through the work of adoption when Jesus died and was resurrected for us. We became fully and forever cherished by God the Father. Through Jesus we became children of God.
Our identity is not our shameful past but in our gracious pardon.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, who don’t want according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” -Romans 8:1
Jesus received the brunt of God’s wrath on the cross so we could know the blessing of His forgiveness.
Many people try to define themselves their accomplishments or their own desires and achievements in life. They present a picture of themselves they want to get through social media in the vain hope people will buy their lie. But, it’s an exhausting fiction to maintain.
We don’t need to achieve perfection, because we have received perfection through Jesus. His sinless life. His righteousness. His unstained merits are given to us and we are received by God for Jesus’s sake.
“For Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” – 2 Corinthians 5:21
This may only scratch the surface of our reach in our identity in Christ Jesus. Hopefully we will be able to taste and see the goodness of God.
God has blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).
From Pity to Praise 