The real Identity Crisis

                  Category: Religion and Philosophy        Wednesday, October 18, 2006
 

Over the years, I have met many people who could not identify who they truly are in any specific way. If you look into the lives of many troubled people today, you will see that most of them are searching to discover who they are, usually with little or no success. I believe the inability to recognize ourselves is a major contributor to many of the struggles people face today. It amazes me to watch people, churches, and businesses fail simply because they do not know who they are or will not accept themselves as the individual God created them to be, or the organization God has given them stewardship over.

I have also found that many of these failures could have been avoided if we would all returned to the basic truths of Scripture and faithfully teach those truths to those around us, especially our children.

If we take time to think about our own identities, we may find ourselves opening a very interesting can of worms. Each one of us is a unique individual. Together, we also form organizations that develop identities of their own. Clubs, businesses, churches, corporations, and even entire nations all possess recognizable identities. Think about it. Look around and see if you can identify the personality of a nation. Consider a country like Israel and write down the characteristics you believe define that nation. You will begin to see what I mean.

I believe the first place to begin with any subject is its foundation. I also believe that many churches fail to use this simple approach when helping people understand God and, in turn, understand themselves. We hear too many Sunday school lessons about the Apostle Paul during worship services and not enough worship centered on who God is and who He created us to be. Leave the Sunday school lessons in Sunday school, and let worship services focus on God and true worship.

(Okay, I'll stop preaching. I need to settle down now!)

Genesis 1:27 states that God created man in His own image. Let's think about what that really means. Scripture tells us that when God created the universe, His Spirit moved upon the waters. He thought and spoke the world into existence. He is Spirit, without physical limitations. So, how is it that He created us in His image?

When you study God throughout Scripture, you first discover His character. He loves. He is patient. He becomes angry. He grieves. He is righteous. He is a thinking, emotional God. You also discover that God has revealed Himself as three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Now take that simple truth and apply it to yourself. We, too, are emotional beings. We have the ability to love, dislike, show patience, become angry, experience sorrow, and grieve because God created us in His image. Aren't you glad? If He hadn't, we would simply be zombies.

Now let's take this thought a step further. Consider the Trinity and compare it to the way God created us. God the Father represents His mind. God the Son represents His body. God the Holy Spirit represents His Spirit. What are we made of? We have a mind, a body, and a soul. This is one of the most important aspects of what God meant when He said that He created man in His own image.

Now go back to what I said God thought the world into existence. If you are honest with yourself and spend time reflecting on the world you have built around you, you may realize that you have also, in many ways, thought your own world into existence. Of course, we are not God, so we make mistakes while building our lives. Yet God has given us the freedom to choose in every decision we make. Doesn't that explain why so many of our lives become so messed up? Usually, it is because of poor choices.

My friends, this simple truth holds the key to many of today's problems.

I have been involved with businesses that failed because they spent so much time trying to become something they were not that they lost all direction and purpose. I have worked closely with a church that became so focused on keeping everyone happy by constantly changing who they were that it eventually lost its identity. No one knew what the church truly stood for anymore. The leadership lacked the courage to be who God had called them to be, and many faithful members eventually left.

Why did they leave? They left because they found another place with a clear identity, a place where they could feel secure.

Worst of all, I have witnessed in my own life and in the lives of many others the internal conflict that develops when a person cannot discover and embrace his or her own identity. It took me many years to discover who God truly created me to be and then to accept myself as that person. Only then did I find peace.

In every example I've mentioned, the businesses, the churches, and the individuals, the same pattern appears. They begin adopting other identities, trying one after another until they eventually self-destruct. Some become disconnected from themselves. Others simply settle into a life of quiet tolerance, becoming ordinary, ineffective, and unfulfilled. Tragically, I have known some who chose to end their own lives, destroying not only themselves but leaving devastation behind.

Why? Because they were never taught the simple, foundational truths of Scripture concerning their own identity and who God created them to be.

God created individuals. Not one of us is exactly alike. So why do we reject those who are courageous enough to be different, to openly display who God created them to be without shame?

It should not be this way.

Perhaps we should all return to the commission Christ gave in the last chapter of Mark. The gospel is truth, and our calling is to share that truth.

Until next time,