Our Identity

Do you know who you are? That's a real thought provoking question, considering the fact that the identity we cling to is a facade. Have you ever pondered what is the underlying foundation of our identity? If you haven't, then lets take a look and see who we truly are.

Pride
Anytime you watch TV, or read a magazine, you usually can hear what fuels an individual's identity. Rappers tend to repeat themselves with "I'm the best in the game", or "I'm the boss". Athletes tend to blurt out the same phrases. If you've ever heard these statements before, then you know what fuels their identity. PRIDE. It's not hard to recognize, a prideful person usually begins or ends every sentence with "I, I, I", or " Me, Me, Me". These individuals journey through life thinking that they made their success, oblivious to who gave them the ability to achieve their position in life.

Who I am vs. What I do
"I'm not that cat you see on TV. I'm not that rapper, model, actor, baller, none of them defines me. I'M A BELIEVER." (I'm A Believer, Identity Crisis: Tedashii). Provoking line by the Reach Records affiliate. This is another level of identity crisis. Some people believe that what they do, how they earn their paycheck, makes them who they are. Let me be the first to tell you. What you do doesn't make you. Sports, hobbies, job/career employment isn't your identity. In my humble opinion, it would be crazy to identify yourself by what you do. For example, if a professional Football player is crushed with a career ending injury, is he still a football player? The same thing flows into the career/job realm. We know how the economy is. If your company took a spill, and you were let go, are you still the Marketing VP of that major company? Are you still the accountant or the CEO? Probably not.

The Fall
You should know that all sins that the world suffers with today, first came into play with Adam and Eve. Ever since the fall, we have lost our identity and ever since then, we have been searching for a model to identity ourselves with. That's why we look to actors, rappers, entrepreneurs, and the like to try to find someone that can give us the spark needed to walk in an identity. This is how society has lost themselves. When the very thing they cling to as their identity is taken away from them, some don't know how to cope with life. They've created their identity from something that will only go as far the grave, never really unlocking their true self. I hope you see the point I'm conveying.

In Christ
An identity found in Christ is the only identity we have. Being secure in the knowledge that you are a child of God, a follower of Jesus is the only identity that can sustain loss of employment or career ending injury. That's the guarantee of your identity drenched in Christ. Please take heed, be careful what you model your identity after. Also, be warned. Pride comes before destruction, an arrogant spirit just before the fall (Proverbs 16:18). Placing pride as the foundation of your identity is suicide. Search the scriptures, study the books that glorify the God of the Bible. The Creator is the only image we were made after, (Genesis 1:26-27), so let's model ourselves after God. Be blessed.

- PenLife