Archive for August 19th, 2009
Identity
Who are what shapes your identity?
This is a starchy question that I ask myself face-to-face in the morning mirror. I don’t know about you, but this question takes some soul-searching. I oftentimes let the borders of my identity-shaping world crumble and the desire to be accepted, respected, and valued come rushing in like water through a breached levy.
I would like to say my Father in heaven shapes my sense of identity — self-worth, value, life-mission, purpose, and meaning. On good days, days tuned by the music of heaven, this is true. But, staring that familiar mug in the mirror, I have to admit that far too often I forget my Father’s words of affirmation: “You are my son, who I love, with you, I am well pleased.”
In my Heartlight.org post this week — entitled “Who are You?” — I explore this whole identity issue and who shapes it for us. This was a crucial question for Jesus and it remains the key question for us. I would love for my heart to be yielded and my faith to be firm so that I could always let God’s view and value of me shape that identity, but I forget. I forget who He is. I forget what He has done for me in Jesus. I forget how long He has known me. I forget He is the one who shaped me in the womb. I forget the cost He paid to redeem me and reclaim me. I forget who I am. So I come back to the Lord’s Prayer today — well really late this evening — and I don’t have to get far before I am reminded who I am!
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be they name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
“Our Father!” Simple words. Life-orienting words. Identity shaping words.
“Our!” I am part of a community. I am not alone. I belong. My voice is joined to other voices. My life is part of a larger story of interlocking and overlapping stories. My world is shaped by a shared journey. You are a part of my world. We share life and we anticipate and encourage each other to a shared future. We are, in spiritual reality, family.
“Father!” God has graced me and empowered me and invited me to call Him — the Holy One, the Majesty on High, the High and Exalted Creator, the Holy One of Israel — my Abba Father. I am His child. I am His beloved one. His value of me can shape and give purpose to my life.
And so I choose to believe what I pray, knowing that when I do, my identity is reset to a higher value, an eternal purpose, and a gracious future.
O dear Father, please help me hang on to this sense of who I am in the middle of my mess ups and under the assault of the enemy’s attacks. Give me wisdom to not trade Your view of me for some quick fix from those who are willing to share their false accolades of me for a moment as long as they get what they want from me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Now for a few questions from the “Who are You?” post:
Why is the question of identity in Christ so important?
How does being unsure of our identity make us vulnerable to temptation?
Why do you think that the devil began Jesus’ temptations with the question about His identity? (“If you are the son of God …”)
- How does God’s affirmation of His son after His baptism prepare Jesus for the time of temptation (Luke 3:21-22; Luke 4:1-13)?
- What’s the difference between doing good things to gain God’s love, approval, and acceptance from doing good things because God has already claimed you as his Masterpiece, Prince/Princess, his Beloved child? (Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 1:21-23)
What are other stories about Jesus changing the perception of people’s identity?
Why is it so important that He showed to others that their identity is no longer what they once were, but who they are now (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)?
- Why did Jesus have the leper go show himself to the priest after his healing (Mark 1:40-44)?
- Why did Jesus call out the woman who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment (Mark 4:24-34)?
- Why did Jesus emphasize that the formerly sinful woman who anointed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair had been forgiven much (Luke 7:36-50)?
What do you need to do to realize, claim, and live out your real identity in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Colossians 1:21-23)?