Who Are You Really?
So often I have heard people say: “I need to be true to myself”, meaning that they don’t want to be influenced by another’s expectations or desires. They want to “do their own thing”, “be their own person”, “believe their own way, “be unique” and make their own mark in the world. With the growing urbanization and global marketing of products and ideas, individualism is on the rise. So as not to get lost among the masses, many attach themselves to some activity, job description or group in defining who they are. It is like my mother-in-law who would put a red ribbon on the antenna of her car, so she could find it in the parking lot. The search for identity is essentially one’s search for security.
When God created man, He breathed into him and he became a living being. Paul refers to the creation of Adam as becoming a living soul. (I Cor. 15.45) Each of us are individually created by God, just as Adam was. In the Psalms, it says that God formed each of us while in our mother’s womb. (Ps. 139.13-19) Just as our eyes and finger prints are unique from the billions of other people, both past and present, so our soul is unique. How we think, feel and desire are unique to us. There are no two alike. We all, as the sons of Adam, have been wondrously made, and yet we still feel so lost. We may work hard to be able to place a Dr. in front of our name or paint our hair blue or cover ourselves with tattoos, yet the question remains: “Who am I, really?”.
As “living souls”, man seeks the answer to his identity in the inner depths of mind, emotions and will. This existential quest ends with an “I” at the center; I think, I feel and I want. There is no other place more vulnerable and solitary. No wonder man is so fearful and insecure. Jesus came, as the last Adam, to breath into us His life-giving Spirit. Note, the Spirit of Christ is giving, not inner searching, nor self-realizing. His Spirit is Love. There is no fear in love, for perfect love castes out fear (I John 4.18) The Spirit of the Lord was sent to abide in us. Our orphaned soul has now found sonship. Our insecurity has now found acceptance and our fear in so more. His life-givng Spirit becomes joined to our spirit, and we are one.
It is no longer a question of who we are, but who Christ is. Christ is righteousness; so then, we are the righteousness of God. (II Cor. 5.21). Since Jesus is the Son of God, then we are sons of God. (Gal. 3.26) Since Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, then we are seated with Him in heavenly places. (Eph. 2.6) Since Jesus is the heir of the Father, we are co-heirs with Him. (Rom. 8.17) It is no longer important that the “I” lives at the center to express his uniqueness, but that Christ lives within. Confidence and security can never be gained from how we look, who we know, what we have or what we do. We are to “put no confidence in the flesh”, but rather we are to place our trust solely in the fact that we have been forgiven, redeemed and loved by the Lord.
God’s acceptance and love for us is based on who He is, not on us. True joy comes when you know who you are in Christ. Peace fills our inner being and His life-giving Spirit begins to flow from us to others. Our focus moves from “I” to “others”, when we love others as we love ourselves. In the giving we receive, in the serving we are fulfilled and in the loving we are satisfied.
Scriptures to meditate on:
II Cor. 5.17, 21; Gen. 2.7; I Cor. 15.45; Phil. 3.3; I John 4.18