Who are you?

Who are you? That’s a commonly asked question and we often have pat answers for it. Men, specifically, confuse “who are you?” with “what do you do for a living?” “I’m a lawyer.” “I’m an electrician.” “I’m a programmer.” It’s kind of a game of oneupmanship to help determine who the alpha male is in the group. Who has the best career, the most money, or the most prestige? Women are more likely to answer the question in terms of their relationship with others. “I’m married, I have 3 kids, and a husband, Tom, who is a building contractor.”

LABELS
“Life will try to label you. People will try to label you everyday. You need to choose to live beyond these labels.”

None of these answers really tell anybody who you are. They’re just labels and provide a way for others to classify you. These answers don’t provide any insight into your true identity. To understand yourself, you have to know who you are as God sees you, not as you see yourself or as others see you.

Moses had an identity when we was growing in Pharaoh’s court. He was a prince, a man of power and prestige. However, as he grew older, he begin to identify himself not with Pharaoh, but with God. It was through his relationship with God that Moses obtained his identity:

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11;24-27  )

Life will try to label you. People will try to label you everyday. You need to choose to live beyond these labels. You may base your identity on relationships which have failed, relationships where there was no faithfulness or unconditional love. You may base your identity on career failures or career successes or you may base your identity on who your spouse is or who your parents are. But that’s not really your identity. Your true identity can only be found through God. Accepting the identity that God gave you leads to peace and joy. It was God who made you and you are his:

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,

“If you are not a Christian, you will not be able to discover your true identity until you accept Christ into your life.”

If you are a Christian, then your identity is found in Christ Jesus, who loved you enough to give his live on the cross for you so that you may be re-united with God the Father. After you die, or if Jesus returns first, you will receive a new body that is free of imperfections, you will be free of your sin nature, and you will have a deeper understanding of God so that you might worship him through eternity. If you are not a Christian, you will not be able to discover your true identity until you accept Christ into your life.

Prepare a quiet time and place for yourself. Ask God to show you any false beliefs that you may have about yourself. Ask him to show you if what you think is your identity really is your true identity. Listen to God as he speaks to your heart. Write down these false identities on a piece of paper. Then tear that paper up or — something that my wife loves to do — tie it to a balloon and release it into the air. In so doing, you are symbolically releasing your false identity to God. Now ask God to reveal to you your true identity — an identity that can only be found through him. God described King David as “a man after my heart” (Acts 13:22). King David knew who he was because he had established his identity through his relationship with God.

Psalm 103:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

Once you realize that your identity is based upon your relationship with God, and that God loves you unconditionally and always has your best interests at heart, then you will experience a sense of peace and joy that you have never known before. You won’t have to wander off to Europe, experiment with drugs, or have an affair to “find yourself” because you will have already found yourself within God’s love for you.