Who am I?

I. What is identity?

A. Definition- your deepest understanding of yourself or the story you tell about yourself.

B. The bible speaks of your identity when it refers to the inner man in Eph 3:16 and your heart in Prov 4:23

C. Our identity gives us a sense of acceptance, security, and significance (meaning)

D. Places where we try to get our identity

1. Race/Ethnicity/Culture—I am my ethnicity or culture. Ethnicity elevated into an identity fuels our tendencies toward racism and prejudice.

2. Family of Origin—I am my familial heritage. This reduces us to nothing more than beneficiaries or victims of our family trees.

3. Religion/Moral Performance—I am a good or religious person. This fuses our identities with systematized good behavior and imprisons us to perpetual performance.

4. Gender—I am whatever gender I choose. Gender is redefined as purely a psychological choice, shattering male/female “binaries,” and forcing us to experiment with dozens of contrived options.

5. Sexual Orientation—I am my sexual desires. Lusts and physical passions reduce us to merely sexual beings.

6. Wealth/ Possessions—I am my money or stuff. Greed and materialism perpetually drive the acquiring of more to fuel our sense of self.

7. Power/Status/Personal Capacity—I am my abilities. Personal accomplishments create an insatiable drive for increased capacity and achievement.

8. Love/Romance—I am my attractional qualities. Romantic relationships become absolute and essential for feeling personal worth and acceptance.

9. Past Abuse/Victimization—I am my bruises. Wounds and past hurts can never heal because they have come to define us.

10. Failure/Regrets—I am my regrets and mistakes. Bad decisions become permanent, unforgivable, and unrecoverable regrets.

11. Social Media/Fake Identity—I am my profile. Ever-improved digital profiles promise affirmation by numbers of likes, shares, friends, or followers.

12. Generation/Age—I am a Millennial, Generation X, etc. Age and life stage elevate one generation over others.

13. Function/Abilities—I am a … [creative, speaker, leader, etc.]. Primary abilities or roles become essential to feelings of worth and meaning.

14. Relationships/Friendships—I am who accepts me. Finding friends, fitting in, and fearing rejection become our primary drives in life.

15. Occupation/Career—I am my career. Vocational success elevated to identity will cause us to devalue people and steamroll over more valuable priorities.

16. Personality—I am my temperament type. Personality tests and descriptors (e.g., I’m an introvert, extrovert; I am funny, relatable, etc.) compartmentalize us onto spreadsheets and numbered grids to make us feel as though we understand ourselves.

Schmidt, Cary. Stop Trying (pp. 37-39). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

II. Types of Identity

A. Tradition- other’s define who I am Example: Buzz Lightyear- every one said He was supposed to be a space ranger. The box declared it, his built in voice controls said it, the TV commercials all said he was a space ranger.

I am a smart student

I am a hard worker

I am a good athlete

I am beautiful

The problem with the traditional identity is that is is performance based and conditional. If you fail at any of these things, your self identity will come crumbling down. Use my example of being a missionary. What if you fail finals, you are paralyzed, or you are in a car crash and your face is permanently scared? The traditional identity will leave you crushed.

B. Modern- I am what I say I am We see this type of identity in all of the Disney movies which teach us to follow our hearts. To be who we want to be. In The Little Mermaid Ariel longs to break free from the sea and live on the land. To be what she wants to be. Its funny how she assumes fathers never reprimand their daughter over the sea. Life will be greener on the other side. The problem with the modern identity is that it is fake and it still requires you to achieve goals that you might fail in. The modern identity downsizes God and makes us gods of our own making. It can hurt those around us because it puts an emphasis on what I want. It is never satisfied and can create anxiety. You can’t achieve it.

III. Finding our proper identity

Sometimes God has to tear down those wrong identities that we have built for ourselves. Think of Peter. Peter thought of himself as a fisherman and yet when Jesus called him, he was in a boat and had caught nothing all day. Later, he assumed himself to be the leader and defender of Jesus, but when Jesus was arrested he fled and then denied Jesus three times. The crushing moment for Peter was when he looked up and saw the look in Jesus’ eyes.

As believer’s, our identity must be given to us by God. Let’s turn to the book of Ephesians. There is a phrase that is repeated quite often in the book of Ephesians. That phrase is “In Christ.” In fact this phrase is used in vs 1. So if I am not supposed to find my identity in what others say about me and I am not to find my identity in what I believe about myself, where do I get it. From Christ or by being in Christ. What matters is not what others say or what I say about myself. What matters is what God says about me. The next three chapters developed this idea more by telling us who we are in Christ.

Accepted Eph 1:6

Loved Eph 1:4

Adopted Eph 1:5

Forgiven Eph 1:7

Chosen Eph 1:4

Made alive Eph 2:1

and the list could continue on but these are just some of the highlights. I challenge you to do a study of the first half of the book of Ephesians and just ask yourself, what does this say about who I am in Christ.

Conclusion

When the world says you are a failure, remind yourself of who you are in christ. When you have sinned and failed God, remind yourself that you are forgiven and and then remind yourself that you are called to be holy. When Satan beats you over the head with your past failures, remind yourself that you are accepted. When you don’t feel like you belong, remind yourself that you are adopted into the family of God and when you feel like no one loves you, remind yourself that you are loved by an almighty, unfailing God.