Defining Ourselves

We all seek to come up with a definition for ourselves. We search for some kind of identity so that when we meet someone new we can give them some kind of definition about who we are and our place in the world. Maybe we are known as the die hard Colts fan. Maybe we are known as the pious religious person. Maybe we are the best kayaker in the world. Maybe we are the person suffering from cancer. Whatever it is, we search for some identity to define who we are so that people know our place in the world. However, after a while these definitions truly do begin to define us. We find that we don't know what to do if that definition is threatened. What happens when the team we identify with comes in last place for the season? What happens when our religious appearance is found to be a cover for shameful things? What happens when someone else kayaks a more extreme river? The problem with the definitions we come up with ourselves is that we have to defend those definitions. We have to prove we deserve to be defined with that title. We find that we have to defend that identity as something worth identifying with. If we don't defend that identity, then we have no worth. So we must defend our identity at all costs.

Our identity can create a prison for us. If we define ourselves as a failure, then we will never believe we can succeed. If we define ourselves as an angry person, it's only natural that we're going to be angry. If we define ourselves as an unloved person, we will never be able to allow anyone to love us. If we define ourselves as a reject, we'll never be accepted. I think in this issue lies one of the great failures of those who follow Jesus Christ in loving those who struggle with homosexuality. (saying this as an ignorant outsider) it appears that many of those who struggle with homosexuality identify themselves as gay. It reaches the place where they identify themselves with their sin, so when Christians make strong claims denouncing the sin, they denounce the people who identify themselves that way. This also becomes the prison that keeps them from walking away from sin, because it means they have to walk away from their identity. I think Christians need to take a stand against all sin, and not just focus on one or two that have been identified as the worst. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, let's stop picking on just a few.

When Jesus came to save us, it wasn't merely to get an entrance pass to Heaven. He came that we may have life in this world, and that we would experience life as He meant for us to have when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He also came that we may have a new identity. Not a fragile one that we have to defend and fight for, but one in which He gives us an identity that He has created for us. We don't have to defend this identity because we didn't choose it. We didn't receive this identity because of anything we did or anything we do. We simply receive this identity for accepting the gift of life that Jesus offered us when He purchased our lives on the Cross. As we accept this identity, it forms who we are. Our heart is transformed to live out that new identity. Our life changes such that we stop worrying about protecting our identity and we fully live out our identity. Our other identities fall away and lose their hold on us. We may be able to enjoy the things that came with that identity, but they do not control us. The sin we identified with falls away. The fear of losing our identity falls away. We are able to live life without worrying about what other people think of us or how they define us, because we are defined by Someone greater than us, greater than them, and greater than the world.We would view this world so differently if we knew our identity. It would change our lives.

We also have to know the identity of Him who defines us. Many times our failure as those who follow Jesus is that our God is too small. We think of God as the eternal party pooper, out to ruin any kind of fun. Or we think of God as angry and vengeful. Or we think of Jesus as the first century version of Mr. Rogers. We need to know who God really is, because if we really knew who God was then we wouldn't be afraid of trusting Him with defining who we are and allowing Him to form us into who He created us to be.

Our problem isn't that our definition of ourselves is too big, our problem is that our definition of ourselves is too small. We have sought a lead role in the play and it turns out that we've chosen to be the pimply faced kid working the concession stand in the lobby. We still want to think we're important and valuable, but the popcorn is too expensive and we'll be replaced by someone else next week anyway. God wants to offer us a part in the play. He won't give us the lead role, that is His position and He's best at it. But He wants to bring us into the story and allow us to play an important role.