Hello my name is _________ and I’m __________.
Can I fill this in? In the past, it may have been filled with: a graphic designer, a student, married, Hanson, some perseption of myself I’ve developed or something having to do with the environment I was currently in. What if we honestly finished this statement. Outside of any environment, who are you? Are we being defined to much by the environment around us? I think so. If we do not seek out our identity, it will be created by the culmination of things from our environment whether we like it or not. We may look back at our life as it happens many times in mid-life and say what the heck am I doing and why? But its never to late to find your identity!
What/who is defining who you are? Family, Pastor, American culture, your hero or favorite musician, or the magazines we read? All of them probably to a certain extent. Who told you what success is? Who is telling you who you should be? A parent or college professor or boss? and Who told them?
These questions made me think about what was creating my identity, what I defined success as, and what my purpose in life is. Was I to continue down the path of defining success by money (as my college drilled into me), material things, or how others viewed me and my skills? I probably wouldn’t have admitted it but wouldn’t have been able to answer what actually was defining me or just said God as that is a good universal answer to churchy questions haha.
I realized the things that were defining me were lies spoken by something or someone and I took hold of in my mind. I wanted change, I wanted truth, I wanted to live life from and for my original intent. Do you want the same?
If the environment we are in shouldn’t define us, what should?
It turns out my churchy answer is actually right. God has our identity defined before we are born. In fact, in Genesis it says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over all the earth.” He is the creator and has the manual to life meaning He knows what will bring Joy and Joy abundant, life and life abundant, peace and peace abundant because that’s what he has intended for EVERYONE! Our identity is found in God.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18
Ok so we should be Christian “do-good” drones? Absolutely not. We aren’t identified by our wrongs OR rights! It is however the framework that our true identity can grow from. Your identity will come from being with God, the creator of YOU. His presence draws out who you were meant to be. All of a sudden, he will start speaking to you through His Word (the bible) or His Spirit or someone with His spirit in the form of prophesy. Its probably not going to be something that is instantly gratified but over time he will bring truth to the lies and redeem them.
You will start seeing YOU as God sees you. Beautiful, talented, unique, made to be LOVED BY GOD! The more you get fed truth, the more you recognize the lies spoken in music, celebrities, poeple, and society and become hungry for more truth brought by God.
Once we even begin to realize the truth, we will want others to know that it is God who brings it. We can go out and not be influenced by the darkness around us but overcome it with Light (John 1:5)!
Jesus, reveal to us a even greater revelation of yourself because you are truth and life and the pathway as you say in John 14:6. Reveal to us all our identities and give us a hunger to be with You and know You! Amen
My wife and I are part of the Awaken Community. We desire restoration and reconciliation in the broken and lost. We both love God and are committed to following his will. I enjoys taking photographs of my travels as well as blogging about awesome things God does or teaches me. To see more photos, visit our gallery. More about Calvin and Camille
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