Identity

I want to revisit the idea of identity. This is what I wrote last week:

Confidence, in my opinion, comes from believing in something. That you can believe something is true and right and will not fail you. This confidence can then potentially enable you do anything because you are completely sure that that something will be able to answer any question and solve any problem. I believe that this is how people develop identities. Identities are built upon what defines a person, and what defines a person is what they believe in. Therefore, to summarize what this has to do with me, I believe that because I have become so incapable of discerning the good and bad within myself, I have lost any sense of identity. Essentially this means that I have lost sight of what I hold to be truth.

I’ve been struggling with this idea of who am I. Where did I get my identity from and what is it? I had this conversation with Katie last night and it seemed as if I came to the conclusion that I’ve lost my identity. Why I thought this was that when I came to college, I felt like I knew who I was, I knew what characterized me and I knew what defined me. Now I feel like I’ve developed this idea of who I am supposed to be or want to be, but don’t know how to be it. So in a sense I feel like I am in some sort of limbo. We talked a lot about how I felt like confidence in myself plays a large part in this. If you take my thoughts on confidence shaping identities from above, it is easy to see why I’ve been so distraught. I’ve been attempting to build confidence in myself by believing in myself and believing that I am a Christian. The problem though is that I’ve been incredibly dissatisfied with my “performance” as a Christian, and that because I can not seem to live out my Christian beliefs in a bold and confident manner, I doubt the very assumption that I am a Christian.

            Finally writing this all out and attempting to articulate my thoughts brings such clarity and reminds me how easy it is to forget the things I’ve been taught and how quickly such ridiculous thinking can take control of one’s heart. I am incredibly blessed and grateful to have Katie in my life to be able to talk to and help me understand. It is just silly though how all of this becomes so complicated but is so simply solved. God’s word is so simple and to the point. It is amazing to me how in my quest to understand things on my own, I so very easily over think and complicate things to the point of paralyzing myself, but then how simply God’s word can bring an immense amount of clarity and freedom to my soul.

            I read a sermon this morning by John Piper on 1 Peter 2:9-10. It is titled Christian Identity and Christian Destiny. Once I started to read it I felt so foolish for not turning here quicker, or not being able to remember this incredibly simple concept that Peter talks about. This concept that my identity is already defined. Meaning that my identity is not defined by what I do or want to do but rather by what’s been done for me. In these two verses Peter presents how we are not defined by what we do but by the relationship God has established with us. How freeing is this statement! The idea that I do not have control of my identity and therefore my confidence in it does not hang on my performance. My confidence in who I am has been given to me and grants me the ability to be free of trying to perform up to “my standards” (standards that I try to establish for myself to improve my life). This revelation gives me the confidence to go out and live my life as God’s possession. Defining who I am and what I do as something that God has done for me, not what I’ve done for God.

Our role as God’s possessions becomes a beautiful thing, rather than a burden. Peter explains “that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light." John Piper then deducts that this is the full-time destiny of a royal priest—to make the glories of the king known

 So what does this all mean to me? How is this my identity?

1 Peter 2:9-10:

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; ¹⁰for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

My identity:

            -I am chosen

            -I am pitied

            -I am God’s possession

            -I am holy

            -I am a royal priest

Synthesized:

            I am God-chosen, God-pitied, God-possessed, God-sanctified.             The very language of my identity in this text necessitates that God be included as the one who acts. My identity is not an end in itself, but for the sake of priestly service, which Peter defines as proclaiming the excellencies of the One who called me out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God made me who I am so that I might proclaim the excellency of his freedom in choosing me. The excellency of his grace in pitying me. The excellencies of his authority and power in possessing me. The excellencies of his worth and purity in making me holy.

                 In other words he has given me my identity in order that his identity might be proclaimed through me. God made me who I am so I can make known who he is. My identity is for the sake of making known his identity. The meaning of my identity is that the excellency of God be seen in me.

This last bit is taken from the sermon I read this morning, The whole thing can be read or listened to by following the link under post links.