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We live in a day-and-age where making our personal identity known, is of great importance to us. Consider social media, we post all sorts of things as if it validates our mere existence, but all the while we struggle in the quietness of our heart know “who am I?” and “why do I exist?”
This isn’t just a preteen question or something we struggled with when we were a junior in high school, trying to pick a college to attend. People in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s are still struggling to find their unique voice in the world.
We wander around life trying to discover our true purpose. Ed Welch said it best when he wrote, “We are like victims of amnesia who are lost and always searching for our ‘true’ identity—or perhaps we are looking for an upgrade.”
At some point, all of us wake up and ask the age-old question, “Who am I?” I’ve done it. I’ve peered across the bathroom counter into the eyes in the mirror and asked, “Who are you and why do you exist?” Great people in the Bible like David (2 Sam. 7:18), Ruth (Ruth 2:10) and Moses (Exodus 3:11) all asked similar questions. Yet, once they understood their true identity in God, nothing could stop them from living out their life purpose. Nothing!
Knowing who we are in Christ begins with understanding who God is. Colossians 1:15-16 talks about Christ being the creator of all things. That by God, He created all things – including you! He doesn’t make any accidents. He wires everything into our life, our gifting, our experience, our passion, all designed on purpose.
Finding my life purpose requires a right view of God and a right view of myself. I have to see Him for who He really is, and know that He has plans much greater than anything I could ever dream.
Similarly, I must gain a perspective of who I am. I must understand the things that have to be removed from my life, so that I can walk in a manner that pleases Him. I must also see that I’ve been designed in such a way that my unique purposes, passions and aptitudes, can be used for His glory.
We don’t have to walk around with amnesia, forgetting our true identity in Christ. We also don’t have to look for an upgrade. We just have to have the grace to accept that who we are is who God has intended for us to be; getting rid of the things in our life that don’t please Him, and walking fully into the life He has planned for each one of us.
