Identity Obsession

In the beginning, God gave humanity an identity and a purpose. The devil came in and convinced humanity that God was not only keeping them from having an identity, but also from knowing it. This began the quest for identity, sending humanity into a rabbit hole leading to nowhere. Humanity was never supposed to know they were naked or judge for themselves what was right or wrong. We were called to have a relationship with God and each other, and steward the earth. In that order: God first, ourselves and each other second, and stewarding the earth third. We were not called to search for our identity. God sent Jesus for us to stop that pursuit of identity and have our identity in Christ. Jesus is the truest image of God and He serves as a reminder that we are made in the image of God. 


The problem with searching for one’s identity is that it distracts us from the purpose given by the Lord at the beginning of our existence. It is a never ending pursuit of a treasure that can never be found. A question that can never be answered because the answer was already stated, and a gift that can never be received because it was already given. God made us, fearfully and wonderfully, in His image and sent us a reminder through Jesus. The Holy Spirit now lives in us and tells us who we are everyday. We just have to listen! We just need to have gratitude for our identity and focus on our purpose. 


What is our purpose? you might ask. The answer can be found in Genesis. Put simply, our purpose is to have a relationship with God, ourselves, others, and God’s creation. We are supposed to love God with all that we are, love others as we love ourselves, and steward what God has created. We need to grow in the knowledge of God, serve Him with all that we are, serve others as ourselves, and serve by using what God has given, wisely. We are to search for God, seek Him, and follow Him. We are not supposed to know ourselves, we are only supposed to love ourselves. We are not even required to know others, we are only supposed to love them. We cannot know our hearts and the hearts of others. We have been instructed, by God, to guard our hearts.  


Looking inward is one of the devil’s distractions because it is a sure fire way to get lost. However, loving others puts us in a higher place; a life of service to God and our fellow (hu)man. One thing that I think I should clarify is that you cannot serve others if you do not love yourself. So first love yourself so that you can love others. You cannot give what you have not received. God loved us first so that we can love Him and we have to love ourselves so as to love others. We also have to surround ourselves with people who help us fulfill our purpose. Since God has taken care of our identity, we are free to focus on action. “Faith without works is dead.” We are saved and redeemed by God to take action and we will know that action when we do not waste our time obsessing over knowing ourselves. We need to embrace God’s love and go out into the world spreading His love. We need to know His power and the gifts He has given us in order to be effective in service to God.


Comments

  1. Ben ScholtenMarch 7, 2022 at 6:39 AM

    Great word!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 7, 2022 at 11:42 AM

    Wow.Looking forward to more blogs. "...our purpose is to have a relationship with God..."🙌

    ReplyDelete

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