Do you ever have an identity crisis? I know that I do. I get so many comments from so many people all the time about the kind of person I am (or sometimes it's about the kind of person that I should be). There are so many voices in my head - not to mention the constant barrage of media and social commentary - that sometimes it just gets confusing and overwhelming.
Take this week, for instance. In just the past 7 days, I have had people call me a wonderful teacher, outgoing, fun, kind, a strong Christian, balanced, silly...the list goes on. But, just to make sure that you don't get the wrong impression, I have also been called the full range of opposite characteristics - rude, lazy, mean, boring, lukewarm, a bad teacher.....you get the idea.
I am a Christian. I am a dancer. I am a hopeless romantic. I am athletic and outgoing. I am a caring friend. I adore learning languages and meeting new people. The list goes on, of course, but these are some of the labels that I can attach to myself. But the world can and does attach other, very different labels to me. So many different definitions of who you are can be confusing and disorienting. That's probably why crises of identities seem to be such a common trend in our world these days. How do you burn through the dross and get down to what really matters?
It's so difficult to filter out all of the trash that you hear about yourself. Should you listen to the angels or the devils? The good stuff or the bad? The media or your family? Yourself or your friends? What if you want to believe the good stuff, but know in your heart that the bad angles are really closer to the truth? Do you ever feel like, intentionally or not, you're just deceiving everyone in your life?
Try this. Turn off all of the external noise, and just sit down with the Lord and talk to Him. Read His word. Found out who He says that you are. He knows you better than anyone in the world - including yourself. Find your identity in Jesus, stay rooted in Jesus, become alive in Jesus, and the "hollow and deceptive philosophy" of the world will have no opportunity to steal away your heart.
Take this week, for instance. In just the past 7 days, I have had people call me a wonderful teacher, outgoing, fun, kind, a strong Christian, balanced, silly...the list goes on. But, just to make sure that you don't get the wrong impression, I have also been called the full range of opposite characteristics - rude, lazy, mean, boring, lukewarm, a bad teacher.....you get the idea.
I am a Christian. I am a dancer. I am a hopeless romantic. I am athletic and outgoing. I am a caring friend. I adore learning languages and meeting new people. The list goes on, of course, but these are some of the labels that I can attach to myself. But the world can and does attach other, very different labels to me. So many different definitions of who you are can be confusing and disorienting. That's probably why crises of identities seem to be such a common trend in our world these days. How do you burn through the dross and get down to what really matters?
It's so difficult to filter out all of the trash that you hear about yourself. Should you listen to the angels or the devils? The good stuff or the bad? The media or your family? Yourself or your friends? What if you want to believe the good stuff, but know in your heart that the bad angles are really closer to the truth? Do you ever feel like, intentionally or not, you're just deceiving everyone in your life?
Try this. Turn off all of the external noise, and just sit down with the Lord and talk to Him. Read His word. Found out who He says that you are. He knows you better than anyone in the world - including yourself. Find your identity in Jesus, stay rooted in Jesus, become alive in Jesus, and the "hollow and deceptive philosophy" of the world will have no opportunity to steal away your heart.
Colossians 2:6-15
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
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