The Truth About Your Identity
We must not allow the enemy to know more about our identity, our purpose, & our destiny than we do." - @hosannapoetry
Can I speak to those who have placed so much weight and definition of self-worth on the accolades and circumstances of their life for a moment?
Allow me to speak this truth over you today: you are not your job. You are not your success. You are not your failures. You are not your failed relationships. You are not who society says you should be according to their too-often faulty standards. You are, however, loved and chosen with the intention to live fruitfully (Romans 5:8, John 15:16).
As a young adult navigating through the ever-evolving twenties, I have found myself in the pitfalls of misplaced identity countless times. I know what it feels like to anchor the crux of my identity to things that drown me rather than ground me, which is why this particular topic resonates so much passion in me to speak over my generation.
We live in a world today where status and money is king and falling at the mercy of it is all too common, but I want to shed some light on the truth of our identity as beings created by God who has placed so much value and purpose in us (Matt. 10:31)
Let your identity rest in Jesus.
It's such a simple statement, but so profound because once you understand and internalize this your life will never be the same because in it there is freedom from impossible expectations. So, let me unpack this unwavering truth for a moment.
Too often, we've fallen victim to the idea that who we are is determined by the level of success we reach in our lifetime. Our career, relationships, failures, and triumphs have easily become the compass that points us to who we think we are or at least should be. This reality has plagued so much of us, sometimes to the point of distorting our values.
When you root your identity in fickle and unstable things, the foundation of who you are becomes fickle and unstable as a result.
Here's the thing – we don't have to live that way. This doesn't have to be our reality. We were not created to be reflections of life's variables. We were created to be reflections of the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We were created with intention, purpose, and love.
God set a plan in motion for our life long before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10). Our career, our relationships, our accomplishments, and our failures are merely a byproduct of life and the decisions we make, but it does not define us. We are defined by the truth that we are God's masterpiece made beautiful and new in Jesus
The compass that should always point us to who we are is Jesus. When we root our identity in the Author and Perfector of our Faith, we root ourselves in His righteousness, His hope, His peace, and His strength that is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:8-10).
He is never fickle. He never changes His mind about His love for us. He loves us when we fail and He loves us when we succeed. He is perfectly constant in an inconstant world (Hebrews 13:8).
When life calls you unloved because you're still single at forty, or a failure because you weren't given the promotion you slaved away for or any lie that seeks to damage you for that matter, you can hold fast to the truth that you are not those things, you are God's workmanship and to Him you are His treasure (1 Peter 2:9).
That is who you are.
I hope you were encouraged today. Until the next one!